


and then there was konoka...

by suzukasshrink



Category: Hinatazaka46 (Band)
Genre: F/F, Friendship I think, aggressive use of suffixes and nicknames cause im a weeb, but also we dont really know what shes like irl, but still kinda ooc, gay panic kyoko, ghosts ooh scary, i gave nao so much personality shes basically sada yuria, i love agatha christie, i swear im not an anti, i wrote this a year ago and i had to replace mao with the 3kis, lots of swearing cause we know katoshi has a potty mouth, multiple POVs, ooc hina, shes still in the data collecting club tho, subtle nogi and keyaki shade but like... really subtle, terror(?), they go to a haunted island and get killed off by a mysterious force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:01:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 36,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26571838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suzukasshrink/pseuds/suzukasshrink
Summary: It's Hinatazaka46. They're trapped in an island. They die.
Comments: 22
Kudos: 55





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the love of my life: saito kyoko](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=the+love+of+my+life%3A+saito+kyoko).



_“_ Konoka, get up! we need to get out _now!”_

The harshness of the voice woke Konoka up from her analgesic-induced dream. She opened her eyes to see her two best friends reaching out to help her get up.

“Wha-what’s going on?” she mumbled dozily, her brain buzzed as it attempted to force her back into the land of slumber.

“There’s no time to explain” the taller girl said, grabbing Konoka’s shoes and hastily forcing her feet into them.

“Kumi-san is waiting for us at the van, but we need to hurry up” the shorter girl pulled her friend up, putting Konoka’s arm around her shoulder to help her balance herself.

A sudden jolt of pain almost knocked her back into her bed. She looked down at her pajama pants and noticed a small stain of dried blood on her left thigh. 

“How’s your leg, Kono-chan?” the taller girl asked with a concerned look on her face.

_Suzuka._

A sudden memory of a few hours back forced Konoka to look away bashfully.

“Miitan, do you need help?” she turned towards the shorter girl that was helping Konoka stand.

“Hold the door open for me,” Miho instructed. “and get my backpack, will you?”

Suzuka nodded and hurried to open the door. 

Konoka leaned on Miho in order to put as little weight as possible on her left leg, which was already throbbing painfully. As they walked into the living room, Konoka noticed a familiar yet uncomforting smell surrounded the room. Suzuka passed them and quickly scooped Miho’s backpack from the couch. As soon as they exited the cabin, they quickened their pace. The pain on her left leg made Konoka feel dizzy. They were walking fast, but they weren’t running which was good because Konoka was sure that if she started to run, she’d pass out.

They walked through the garden to find two vans waiting for them. Suzuka helped Miho prop Konoka up and then followed suit. Only the driver’s seat was occupied.

Konoka tried to make out who it was but her vision started to blur and before she could say anything, she passed out.


	2. Chapter 1: Miku has an Epiphany

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miku loves the island life but Nao's spidey senses are tingling. Oh and Miipan hates the 2kis because this was written in early 2019.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i never said that, shiraishi mai is my friend

Miku let the cool breeze hit her face, her hair was all over the place and she was sure one of her earrings had been blown off by the wind but she didn’t care, all she cared about was enjoying the moment. _Relaxing._

This was their first vacation in a while and it felt so good to just forget about everything for a whole week. It wasn’t a real vacation, but she was planning on treating it like one anyway. She turned to her genmate, Kawata Hina who smiled awkwardly as she held onto her hat as it threatened to fly away. She was wearing round sunglasses and was completely barefaced, as Hina often was when they weren’t being recorded. Next to Hina, Nibu Akari waved at her with a dumb smile, her trademark ponytail flopped around, almost as if it were dancing. This was Miku’s first time in a speedboat, she was surprised at how fast it was going even though the name should’ve been telling enough.

“This is nice isn’t it, Hinano-chan?” she sighed, turning to the girl sitting next to her who just nodded awkwardly in response. The younger girl’s hair covered her face in a way that was almost cartoonish and she felt tempted to offer to tie it back for her, but she figured Hinano would’ve done it herself if she wanted to.

Resting her chin on her hand, her sight went to the speedboat next to theirs, it was slightly smaller and it looked newer, but not significantly. Even from afar, she could see her seniors’ faces, some of them enjoying the breeze, others trying to fight off the wind. She absentmindedly stared at the moving water for the rest of the trip, thinking about all the things she would do on their pseudo week-off. When they arrived, they got out of the boat excitedly, all of them thanking the captain as he helped them climb up the dock. First Gen’s boat hadn’t arrived yet, but they were so used to it, they didn’t even do it out of fear of Kumi. They were always on their best behavior. 

_If Nogi is known for their beauty and elegance, and Keyaki for their impactful performance, we will be known for our work ethic_. 

That’s what Kumi always said. At first she thought it was kind of dumb to be so obsessive over it. Neither of their senior groups was known for their politeness and they were two of the most popular groups in Japan, but slowly she began to understand why Kumi gave it so much importance. The effort the staff would put on them and their willingness to listen to their requests increased dramatically. She also started to notice that they’d get nicer snacks than they got back when they were Hiragana Keyaki. Lastly, articles started coming out one after the other regarding the group’s work ethic and slowly, more people began wanting to work with them which led to the group becoming more well known.

_As expected of Kumi._

Even if she didn’t always understand them, Miku respected the first gens a lot. She thought they were reliable seniors and were (for the most part) really nice.

“This is so exciting!” Nibu cried, clinging to her arm. 

Miku nodded. This year, their management had rented a villa on a small island off the coast of Yamaguchi to hold their annual training camp. All three groups would get to go, but due to Nogizaka’s current international tour and a few… internal issues happening within Keyakizaka, it was decided Hinatazaka would be the first group to have theirs. 

“It’s so nice to be on a boat and not having to be the one rowing it!” she heard a voice behind her say. Her seniors’ boat had arrived at the dock as well.

“Shut up, Shiho! don’t give them the idea or they’ll make us row back to Yamaguchi” Kyoko barked.

If she were to be honest, Miku’s heart also stopped when she saw the boats. Not only is she deadly afraid of drowning but every time she saw a large body of water, she couldn’t help but remember their hellish second single hit campaign. Maybe it was because of that reason that she felt a strange sense relief once the boat started moving on its own. 

“Hina-chan!” First gen, Takamoto Ayaka called out and ran over to where the second and third gens were standing. She realized her and Hina were dressed matching in sleeveless sailor-collared blouses, airy white skirts and a large round straw hat (and a pair of dark sunglasses to complete the look), the only difference was that Hina’s top was light pink while Ayaka’s was mint colored. Ayaka hugged Hina from behind while the rest of the girls laughed awkwardly. Among the 2nd gens, Hina was the most well-liked by their seniors. They all followed quietly as one of their managers led the way, giving them a brief tour of the island (which was inhabited) and the villa they were gonna be staying in. She found herself spacing out until she felt an arm link to hers.

“You also getting weird vibes from this place?”

It was Nao.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Miku replied. 

_Weird vibes? What does that even mean?_

“I don’t know how to explain it, but something feels off,” Nao said thoughtfully, to which Miku just shrugged in response. Nao nodded with slight disappointment and remained quiet for the rest of the tour, her arm still hooked onto Miku’s.

“As you can see, we have a library, a swimming pool, a tennis court, an indoors playroom and so much more! now let’s check out the training rooms. While this is meant to be a singing and dancing training camp, we’ll also do some team-building exercises and you will have a decent amount of free time to socialize amongst yourselves”

Miku looked around in awe, the place was bigger than expected and although it was in good condition, the buildings looked several decades old, but what confused her about it the most was the European architecture of some of the older looking buildings. This wasn’t something you’d expect to see on some small Japanese island. She wondered if someone with a lot of money had owned it in the past. It would’ve made sense.

But why sell it? Nao’s words suddenly resonated in her head, she looked down at the girl’s hand, the way it was clutching Miku’s arm was definitely out of the ordinary, though her face seemed as calm as usual.

She forced herself not to shudder.

The tour ended in their rooms that were small cabins, each of them could fit 3 to 4 people. Papers were drawn and the groups were:

Ayaka/Mei/Nibu, Hina/Mikuni/Haruyo, Kumi/Hinano/Katoshi, Miho/Konoka/Nao, Miku/Manafi/Mirei and Sarina/Kyoko/Suzuka/Marii

Manamo had exams week and had to stay in Tokyo to study and Hiyotan had caught the Flu and was home-bound for the next few days, she was scheduled to join them on Thursday and she’d be sleeping in Manafi’s room.

Miku sighed in defeat, she had been hoping to room with Hina or Nibu. Manafi was nice but she and Miku had nothing in common while Mirei was far from the warmest senior. Maybe they’d manage to bond during the week. 

She unpacked quietly while Manafi and Mirei gossiped about a staff they had found out was dating a girl 10 years his junior, Miku would usually join in but she shied away. She quickly changed to her training clothes and announced to her seniors she’d be heading on first. 

As she left, she stumbled upon Mei, Nibu and Ayaka that were walking to the practice room together. Miku felt weirdly envious, both Ayaka and Mei were very approachable and Nibu was good at getting along with others. Mei called out for Miku who approached them with a smile. Ayaka and Mei were talkative as always, Miku thought it must’ve been some sort of miracle they’d managed to end up as roommates.

“It’s like fate!” Nibu said with a smile. Miku had no idea what she was talking about but the words seemed to apply to what she was thinking as well.

When they arrived at the practice room, she noticed a lot of them were already there except for Marii, Miho, Hina, Konoka and her roommates that arrived soon after. Mikuni apologized to the instructor in Marii’s behalf as she was the only one still not there when he arrived. She finally burst into the room 15 minutes late, drenched in sweat, claiming she had spaced out when they announced the day’s activities which earned Kyoko and Sarina an earful from the captain.

Dance practice was tough but fruitful, the teacher was really good and she felt herself improve drastically in just the three hours the lesson lasted. 

“I can’t believe there will be 6 more days of this…” she heard Haruyo groan behind her “I’m gonna die”

“Wait ‘till the instructor asks you to stay behind for extra lessons” Marii mocked her.

“It’s hopeless!” she cried, stumbling to the nearest bench.

Miku laughed along and proceeded to join Nibu and Nao in their casual chat. It felt like a regular day in Tokyo.

...that was until the Vocal Coach arrived 15 minutes later.

* * *

“That was intense” Manafi screamed out as soon as they reached their room. 

They had 3 hours of dance lessons, 2 more of vocal lessons followed by a 1 hour break and they ended the day with some physical training and team building exercises. It was barely 6pm but Miku felt as if it were past midnight, she was very tired. Mirei asked if she could shower first because she had agreed to check out the pool with Sarina afterwards, the other two agreed since they had no real plans afterwards.

“I already know I won’t be able to feel my legs tomorrow” Miku complained, rubbing her thighs pathetically.

“You’re still young,” Manafi replied with a tired smile. “I’m sure your body will be able to handle it. You’ve got a good physical condition too”

“I hope so”

The rest was awkward silence until Mirei came out of the shower with a towel on her head and Manafi let Miku go first and went out to find something to eat. As she turned on the water and started to undress, she found herself smiling. Manafi might be awkward but she was a kind senior and she was thankful to her for that. In the past, she’d only ever see her hanging around Memi so she wondered if she’d be okay once her best friend announced graduation. But it seems like she grew closer to her gen-mates and Manamo thanks to that, she wanted to grow closer to her too but for some reason she was bad at interacting with her seniors.

“I will work hard to take advantage of this opportunity and get closer to Manafi-san and Miipan-san before Hiyotan arrives” she thought to herself with a smile before entering the shower.

After she was done showering she left the bathroom to get dressed but realized Manafi wasn’t back yet. Mirei was gone already too so she was left alone in her room. She stared at the empty room quietly when suddenly, a chill ran down her spine. As if on cue, the doorbell rang once, then twice and it started ringing nonstop.

“Hina” she thought to herself with a smile before opening the door, still in a towel.

Miku peeked her head out just in case and was met by the person she expected to see as she burst into the room without an invitation. She was followed by a taller girl with a large smile on her lips.

“Get dressed, Kin-chan” Nibu instructed, “we’re exploring this place and you’re coming with us!”

Miku checked her watch, there was still an hour and a half to go ‘till dinner time, she had been planning on taking a nap but she could put off sleeping for a bit. The place didn’t seem that big anyway.

“I’m surprised Miho didn’t come with” She said as they left her room.

“She told me she had made plans with Suzu-chan already,” Hina said with a shrug. “I told her to just invite her along but she refused”

There was a pause.

“Those two are weird” 


	3. Chapter 2: Good Girls and Girls that Steal Food From The Catering Service

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> something something haunted island something something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter makes no sense without mao, editing her out destroyed the entire essence of the chapter. why did you have to scandal, mao? why?

Sasaki Kumi wasn’t someone known for being ungrateful, she always appreciated every little effort anyone ever made on her behalf, but  _ this  _ would  _ not  _ stand.

“You stole all the food from the catering!” She heard herself yell the second she saw her two roommates and a leech with their arms filled with plates of food.

“We felt bad because you were the last to shower so we brought you some food before it ran out. Please don’t get mad, Kumi-senpai”

“Yeah!” Ayaka said. “Our intentions are pure, Kiku-chan”

“Oh I don’t doubt  _ Hinano-chan’ _ s intentions are pure” she approached Ayaka skeptically and forcefully took her plate.

“Hey!” Ayaka screamed and Katoshi elbowed her “I mean, these are for you, captain!”

“Well since the food is for me, I assume you won’t mind leaving everything here with me” Kumi eyed Katoshi who was trying to hide a bag of chips under her shirt.

All life drained out of Katoshi and Ayaka’s eyes while Hinano gleefully handed Kumi the plates of food they had collected. “No problem at all, senpai! That’s why we brought them” 

Kumi smiled warmly at Hinano before glaring at the other two as they reluctantly put down their plates. She pointed at Katoshi’s pockets. The girl sighed and started taking out what seemed like a never ending amount of candy.

“Don’t think i didn’t see you stuffing cookies into your bra” Kumi said with gritted teeth at Ayaka. 

Once everything was in the bed, Kumi dropped the angry facade.

“Now let’s eat!” she said grabbing an apple. “you two can eat too”

Katoshi and Ayaka happily took their food back.

“You’re so merciful, kyaputen!” Ayaka cried.

“Thank Hinano-chan, she was the one that put me in a good mood”

“HINANO-SAMA” Katoshi hugged the younger girl dramatically and fake-sobbed in a way that made Kumi and Ayaka laugh.

“Idiots” Kumi rolled her eyes.

“but we’re  _ your  _ idiots, Kiku-chan” Katoshi poked Kumi teasingly, who’s growing grin betrayed.

_ Yeah, they’re my idiots. _

They all sat down and chatted comfortably except for Hinano that nodded quietly and laughed when one of them said a joke. Kumi assumed it must be awkward for her being paired up with a bunch of hags, she was 7 younger than Ayaka and Toshi. 

“How is your first training camp going, Hinano-chan?” Kumi asked the younger girl.

“It's going well, senpai, thank you for asking” she replied politely. “Keyaki 2nd gen and I had one of the sort before we joined our respective groups, nothing as fancy as this of course. If I remember correctly, the other 3rd gens have had a proper one already though”

“This  _ is  _ really fancy,” Ayaka thought out-loud.

“It is…” Katoshi echoed. There was a small silence.

“LET’S GO EXPLORE” Katoshi screamed.

“Yeah!” Ayaka joined in.

“I wanna go too!” 

“Wait,” Kumi pointed at the clock “dinner is in less than an hour”

“I forgot we were gonna have dinner” Katoshi said wide-eyed, “Fuck, maybe I shouldn’t have eaten so much”   


Kumi was about to yell at Katoshi for swearing in front of Hinano when the girl bounced off the bed and declared that she was going exploring anyway and that anyone who wanted to accompany her could come, which ended up being everyone because Kumi couldn’t let Hinano go off “exploring” with these two knuckleheads.  They walked past the pool and Katoshi threatened to jump in as a joke. Only Hinano fell for it, though and she spent the next minute or so lecturing her about the dangers of walking around while wet. Hinano really was too good. Kumi felt bad for her again. 

They proceeded to the Library where they stumbled upon Hina, Nibu and Miku that were excitedly going through old books for some reason. Ayaka took two fashion magazines and Kumi a mystery novel in english. They kept walking along the outdoor field, then past the tennis court and finally, they reached the main building. The only people in the island were two managers, the instructors and about 20 staff members so it felt pretty deserted. Kumi saw Miho and Suzuka sitting together on the grass at the outdoor field and called out their names but they didn’t seem to have heard her because they never replied. They saw a few of the staff helping the managers get settled at their cabins beyond the running field, she wondered if that’s where the newer generations in Nogizaka and Keyakizaka would be sleeping considering there were only two more empty cabins in the main area, both of which could only hold 3 or 4 girls each.  She was actually surprised Katoshi never proposed to search the empty cabins, especially because one of them was closed off with yellow “caution” tape. Maybe that’s why the managers were sleeping in the cabins off the main grounds. The entire villa was surrounded by forest so as soon as it started getting darker, Kumi noticed the place had developed an eerie vibe to it and it felt like a completely different location. As they walked, she felt Hinano grab her hand. She didn’t say anything because she didn’t know what to say so she just held Hinano’s hand until they arrived at the lobby and met the others.

Hinano got separated from them as soon as she spotted Nao. Katoshi and her watched Hinano excitedly tell Nao about her day and Nao listening enthusiastically with a smile.

“They’re good kids,” Katoshi  said,  as if reading her mind.

Her sight went to Hina and Nibu running around, chasing after Miku. The other third gens sat on the floor chatting. Meanwhile, Konoka, Miho and Suzuka discussed some ideas for their upcoming Hinatazaka de Aimashou recording with Kyoko and Manafi. 

“Yeah” Kumi replied “they really are”

Ayaka sat on a single-person couch with Mei on her lap, tickling and hugging the smaller girl that was trying to concentrate on whatever she was playing on her Nintendo Switch. They laughed listening to the way she swore at Ayaka and threatened to murder her in her sleep. Katoshi clung to Kumi’s arm and rested her head on her shoulder.  She was taken aback at first by the sudden skinship but responded by leaning her head on Katoshi’s.

“Hey, Kumi,” Katoshi whispered “isn’t it odd that they were able to rent out an entire island for our training camp?”

“Sakamichi groups are a large source of income for the company and maybe they rented it at a low price”

“but that’s my point,” Katoshi’s voice got deeper “why was it at a low price?”

Kumi lifted her head to look at Katoshi who looked straight ahead, expressionless but b efore she could say anything, a bell rang and a man with a funny mustache dressed in a grey uniform popped out. 

“Dinner is ready,” he announced.  Everyone walked into the dinning room. It had two smaller tables to sit the trainers and managers and one really long one to sit the members. The decoration was rather fancy, particularly the tables’ that was a bit too much for Kumi’s liking.

“This reminds me of when we recorded Re:Mind” Ayaka told Mei to which the 1st gens hummed in agreement, all except Kumi, Katoshi’s words still resonating in her head.

_ This *is* very fancy, how could they get it at such a low price? _

“Calm yourself, Sasaki Kumi, you’re overthinking this, Toshi-chan is probably just trying to scare you” Kumi muttered to herself in a very low voice, but not low enough for Nao, who was sitting next to her, to hear.

“Is anything wrong, Kumi-san?” Nao asked. She had a weird expression on her face Kumi couldn’t quite read.

“No, nothing at all” Kumi faked a smile, but it only made her feel weirder.

Nao looked at her as though she wanted to say something but whatever it was, she chose not to say it and went back to her dinner. Kumi felt tempted to ask but her voice wouldn’t come out.

“Kumi-chan, you haven’t touched your food!” Mirei pointed out from across the table.

“Yeah, I’m not that hungry. I ate a lot of snacks and food from the catering earlier”

“so it was  _ you  _ that took all the food. I thought it had been Kyoko”

“Why me?” Kyoko protested. “If anything, it would’ve been  _ you,  _ Sasaki Mirei”

...and with that Mirei and Kyoko started arguing and the state of Kumi’s plate was forgotten completely.

After the meal, Hinano, Katoshi and Kumi all walked back to their cabin together. She noticed Hinano was holding Katoshi’s hand and wondered if maybe Hinano was fond of hand-holding. Kumi couldn’t even remember what it was like to be Hinano’s age anymore but she felt weirdly protective of her, especially because this was her first time far away from her parents for so long. 

_ I must be getting old... _

The cabin had two rooms, each with two double sized beds. It was decided they would rotate rooms. Hinano insisted on having the room for herself on the first night, apparently she wanted to call her parents. This meant Katoshi and Kumi would be sharing a room. Kumi quickly changed into her pajamas and did her nightly routine in front of a large mirror in their room. Katoshi walked in a few minutes later completely bare-faced with her hair tied in pigtails, wearing a loose black t-shirt of some rock concert Katoshi had never gone to and pleaded pajama pants. It was very much like her to wear something so uncute to sleep. Kumi on the other hand was wearing her usual satin short sleeved button-down pajamas.

“I’m going to sleep first, I’m beat” Katoshi yawned “I love you, Kiku-chan”

Kumi smiled to herself “I love you too, Toshi-chan, goodnight” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soft kikutoshi is good for the soul


	4. Chapter 3: The Good, The Bad and the Idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarina battles a spider, Paripi attempts to be a cool senpai and Mikuni seriously considers murdering Haruyo and Marii at some point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! I hope you enjoyed my first batch of uploads and it wasn't just the tags you found amusing.
> 
> I dedicate this chapter to Takahashi who has the patience of a saint.

Morimoto Marii woke up to an ear-shattering scream. A part of her debated whether to get up or let one of her roommates handle it. She heard it again and quickly got out of bed to check what was going on. Her cabin had two rooms, each with two beds. She was rooming with Suzuka while Kyoko slept with with Sarina. She noticed Suzuka wasn’t in her bed so she figured she was the source of all of the noise.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, I’M TRYING TO SLEEP” She heard a voice coming from the other room yell as she walked into the living room. On top of the couch was Suzuka with a terrified expression on her face and a sandal in hand.

_ This can only mean one thing _

“Marii be careful there’s a—” but before her senior could finish her sentence, Marii saw _it_. In a fit of absolute panic, she let out a loud cry that woke the other two up. Sarina walked up to her bedroom’s door and rubbed her eyes trying to suppress a yawn.

“It’s 5am, we don’t have to be there ‘til 8, what’s wrong?”

“A SPIDER” Suzuka yelled. “CALL MIHO”

Sarina approached the nearest counter and grabbed a cup. “I will not be waking Miho up at 5am just so she can kill a spider, Suzu-chan _ ” _

She calmly approached the spider and trapped it between the cup and a napkin before freeing it outside the cabin.

“It’s alright now, you’re safe” she smiled, still half-asleep.

“Holy Mother Sarina!” Marii and Suzuka cried in unison to which Sarina just giggled in response and told them to go back to bed.

Suzuka wasn’t seen again until 7:55am when she woke up screaming that she overslept.

“shit! shit! shit!” she swore she attempted to put on her training clothes as quickly as possible. 

“You’re lucky there won’t be any cameras around today, Suzu-chan,'' Sarina chuckled after pointing at her shorts that, upon further inspection, seemed to be on backwards. Suzuka took them off and put them on again.  


“If you eat your breakfast quickly you can just come back and get changed” Kyoko grumbled. 

“Good idea!” 

"also, that underwear is ridiculous"

Marii giggled, Suzuka's ears had turned red.

Her morning had been quite chaotic but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She was sure Takahashi would not believe her when she told her all about it. She had definitely gotten lucky with her room arrangement, so many interesting personalities in one cabin! Marii couldn’t wait to grow closer to all of them. Haruyo really liked Kyoko so she’d probably find it all very amusing.  Breakfast was extremely fun as well, Miho kept teasing Suzuka’s outfit while Sarina repeated the story about the spider they found in the living room FOUR TIMES in a row. She was surprised that the segment on their variety show about her repeating the same story several times was true. Next to her, Mikuni and Haruyo seemed to be fighting.

“I told you what I heard” Hauyo grumbled as she chewed. “you believe me, right, Hinano?”

Hinano smiled blankly and nodded.

_ She did not believe her. _

“What’s this about?” They had been fighting about it since before Marii had arrived so she had no idea what the topic of the discussion even was. 

“Haruyo is convinced she heard someone screaming or something” 

“I’m not  _ convinced _ ” she rolled her eyes. “I know what I heard! it was a man screaming and Takahashi won’t believe me.  _ You sleep like a log, Takahashi _ ”

“Ask Hina-san, maybe she heard something,” Marii proposed.

“Don’t bother he—”

But it was too late. Marii had already called out to her senior a few heads away and with that, she ended up catching the attention of Nibu and Miku. 

“Hina-san, last night… did you happen to hear a man screaming?”

Hina tilted her head to a side. “I did actually!”

“Told you!” Haruyo poked Mikuni with her chopsticks. “I wasn’t imagining it”

“...but it was probably just the wind”

“Ha!” Mikuni hit Haruyo across the head. “now stop bothering our seniors”

And so, the topic was dropped and the girls continued to eat their breakfast like nothing had happened. S he finished her breakfast and hurried to her cabin to brush her teeth where she found Suzuka pondering over her outfit.

“Marii-chan, what time is it?”

“you still have 7 minutes”

Kyoko and Sarina left first while Marii waited for Suzuka. She felt really guilty that her seniors had gotten in trouble for her tardiness the day before and wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again. 3 minutes before the lesson started, Suzuka came out of their room with a slightly better outfit.

“I’m ready, thank you for waiting for me, Marii-chan” Suzuka pinched her cheek. “now let’s get going”

As she reached for the door handle, a strange cracking sound was heard coming from Kyoko’s and Sarina’s room, almost like a bone breaking. Marii and Suzuka made eye contact but neither said a word. The taller girl approached the room slowly. Their eyes darted around the room, both wondering if what they had heard had just been an illusion… 

_ whoosh, squelch, crack _

Marii quickly unlocked the door and both of them bolted out at full speed, leaving the door wide open and almost reaching the practice room in their adrenaline boosted sprint.

“What the f—rick was that?” Suzuka barely managed to stop herself from swearing.

“I don’t know,” Marii bit her lip, trying her best to keep calm even though she was having trouble catching her breath.  They kept on walking in silence until as she was about to go in and Suzuka grabbed her arm to stop her.

“Another thing,” Suzuka muttered. “before we can figure out what the— _ heck  _ we just heard, you can’t tell anyone about this, especially  _ not _ Kyoko-san”

Marii had a hard time concentrating on the singing lesson and her voice kept cracking when she attempted to sing, it was hard for her to pretend she hadn’t been affected by the events of that morning. She didn’t know if it was because of Haruyo’s story had spooked her out already or…

...there was no way that sound was what she thought it was.

Marii eyed Suzuka who was back hugging Miho quietly as the former talked to Konoka. Maybe Suzuka heard an entirely different thing and Marii was freaking out over nothing. 

After vocal lessons, there was a modelling course focused on learning how to pose  properly  for the camera, find their angles and practice runway walk a little; afterwards, she had a team building exercise with the rest of 3rd gen. They were given an hour long free period before lunch. Her and the other 3rd gens were planning on chilling by the pool, it was almost 35c outside. But before that, there was something she needed to do.  


“Suzuka-san, could we talk in private?"

Suzuka followed her to a place less crowded. She seemed really stressed out.  


“What are we gonna do about the… you know?”

“Look, Marii, we don't know what we heard! for all we know the wind broke a branch nearby or something”

“You can’t be serious,” Marii protested. “Suzuka-san, that was definitely not a branch! it was coming from our seniors’ room, they should know about this”

Suzuka sighed loudly. “okay, here’s what we’re gonna do: for now, don’t tell your genmates, I heard what you guys were talking about during breakfast and this would only generate more paranoia. After lunch, we’ll fool Sarina-san or Kyoko-san into accompanying us to the cabin. If there's… if there’s anything there, they’ll know what to do, but for now, just stay put, alright?”

“Okay, yeah, I can do that”

“Just… don’t panic, we don’t know what we heard, we can’t create a ruckus if we have no proof”

Marii nodded obediently and bid her senior farewell. “I’m gonna hang out with Nano and the others, see you at lunch” 

Suzuka waved back and then left.

“What was that all about?” a voice behind her asked.

“Haruyo! you scared me half to death”

“What were you talking about with Tomita-san? is something wrong?”

“Nothing at all! we were just discussing sleeping arrangements, is all. Our room’s window is stuck and it got really stuffy last night so we’re wondering whether we should ask our managers about it or bear with it” Marii lied through her teeth.

Her friend narrowed her eyes. “is it that bad?”

_ Nice save, Morimoto. _

“I mean, I wouldn’t say it's  _ terrible _ . That’s why we were unsure if it was worth bothering the hotel staff about it” she shrugged. “in the end, we agreed to give it another night”

“Takahashi must be seething that you have an excuse to talk to Tomita-san” Haruyo smiled coolly. “is she nice?”

“She is!”

They kept talking until they reached the food bar outside the main building, by the pool. She saw Nao and Hinano talking at the edge of the pool with their feet in the water, waiting for Marii and the others. She didn’t want to go back to her cabin to put her swimsuit on so she lied about being on her period. Everyone seemed to be having fun,  Miku and Miho were playing a very unbalanced game of waterpolo against Hina and Nibu who didn't manage to score a single point in over fifteen minutes. She noticed Kyoko and Ayaka sitting on a hammock together, chatting while Mei waddled back from the buffet with three piña coladas in her arms. Marii wondered if they had alcohol in them.

“This has been so much fun!”  


“You’ve been enjoying yourselves?” Nao was sitting next to her. “I’m relieved! we were worried you guys would feel left out”

Hinano let out a forced laugh. 

_ Why is she laughing? _

No one knew.

“Hinano, you’re so weird sometimes. Isn’t she so weird, Takahashi?”

“but in a good way, I assume” Hinano raised her eyebrows.

“Definitely in a good way”

“Nothing wrong with being weird anyway, Hinano” Nao said. “everyone is weird”

_ You’re like the most normal person in the world, Nao-san. _

“Nao-san called you a weirdo, Takahashi!” Haruyo hit the water with an open palm and it splashed all over Mikuni’s face.

“You’re the one convinced this place is haunted!” 

As if on cue, there was a loud shriek coming from the woods, it was followed by another voice calling for help. A few meters away, Kyoko got up.

“Should we get a manager or—?” Ayaka mumbled.

“I'd rather not wait that long” Kyoko said with a panicked voice “Nao! Get help! Miho, get your shoes. You’re coming with us!”

Nao got up and hastily put on her sandals. She touched Marii’s shoulder, as if telling her to stay put. Miho ran the opposite direction, towards the place Kyoko and Ayaka were heading —following the voice. Curiosity got the best of her and Marii got up and ran after them, ignoring Mikuni’s cries of protest.  She followed Miho deep into the woods and stopped a few meters behind Kyoko and Ayaka.

“Marii, go back!” her short hair senior instructed but Marii needed to know. She needed to be sure someone had just tripped and hurt an ankle and that's why they were calling for help. She needed to be sure it had nothing to do with the screams Haruyo heard at night or the horrible noise she had heard in her cabin.

They caught up to Kyoko and Ayaka that had just been spotted by one of the girls.

“Kyoko-san!” it was Konoka.

Miho ran past her and hurried over to a taller figure that was leaning over a tree, throwing up.

“What happened? are you alright?”

“W-we f-found—” Suzuka tried to explain but started throwing up again.

“What did you find?” Ayaka asked.

Konoka just pointed at a large pile on the floor close to them, and it was then when Marii noticed them.

_ Flies. _

Dozens of them, circling around them. Their loud buzzing muffled out every other noise. Miho cautiously approached what Konoka was pointing at before swearing out loud.

“Stand back!” Miho pushed Marii away from whatever it was she had seen. “Let’s wait for the staff to arrive” 

“Wait, what is it?” Ayaka carefully approached it. 

As she caught sight of it, she dropped unconscious.

“Aya!” Kyoko rushed towards her before accidentally catching sight of it and turning away her head.

Konoka helped Kyoko carry Ayaka to a tree a few meters away. Soon after, they heard footsteps. It was Nao with one of their male managers and a hotel staff. 

“Nao, stay there,” Konoka warned. “Help me take Ayaneesan back”

Kyoko guided the men to where it was. Their manager jumped back at the sight while the hotel staff just stared at it quietly. 

Out of curiosity, Marii got on the tips of her toes and sneaked a peak. She didn’t get a proper look at it before Miho grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back. But it was too late, she had seen it.

“Saito, tell the receptionist to call the police.” her manager ordered, “You two go back with Kyoko. No one’s allowed here until we figure out what we’re gonna do. GO!”

They all nodded and walked away.

“Who’s that?” Marii could hear her manager ask.

“It’s one of the cleaning staff, sir, he had been missing since this morning, we—” 

As soon as they were out of the woods, two of their managers rushed towards them and helped taking Ayaka to one of the benches while Kyoko ran towards the main building. Kumi and Katoshi ran after her, trying to find out what was wrong.

“What’s going on? What happened to Ayaka-san?” Mikuni asked.

Marii just stared down at the grass. Haruyo started to shake her from left to right, trying to get her to react. Both of them seemed to be talking to her but Marii was too spaced out to listen to what they were saying.

“Marii! Earth to Morimoto!” 

“What happened?” 

Marii lifted her head and looked at her friends with an empty expression on her face, slowly able to process what she had just seen.

“I think I just saw a dead body”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the weakest chapter out of all of them mainly cause I had to rewrite it from scratch after the rest of the story was already written.


	5. Chapter 4: Confessions Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hina: we have to tell Kumi!  
> Nibu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5UcFXU8KGs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to another chapter of "And Then There Was Konoka". In today's update, Kyoko will make children cry while Mei takes a picture of Ayaka as she sleeps to blackmail her.

Nibu lived in a constant state of blissful unawareness. She wouldn’t say she was dumb, she just never made an effort to  _ know _ . Sometimes it’s better to find out something bad is gonna happen at the very last minute. It allows you to enjoy every second up until that single unfortunate event. Just like with everything else in her life, Nibu chose to ignore the grim vibe this island radiated. Of course, this sort of stance had its consequences. While it helped muffle the feeling of dread, there was another feeling that took its place later on, one that was impossible to ignore: guilt.

“I wonder if--”

“Shut up!”

“But what if--”   


“Please stop!”

Miku and Hina were fighting as Nibu reflected on her way of life. She knew what they were fighting about but feigned ignorance, maybe that way she could convince herself it had nothing to do with her.

_ Maybe it does have nothing to do with us _

Nibu nodded to herself, suddenly filled to the brim with optimism. For all Nibu knew, this could all be one big coincidence. It had to be!

Hina didn’t seem to think so, though. Unlike Nibu, Hina wasn’t as good at ignoring negative feelings when they came knocking at her door, especially not one as enticing as guilt. Miku on the other hand would also try to avoid negative feelings, but unlike Nibu, she did it by entering a state of aggressive denial where even the most ridiculous of her stances made more sense to her than the reality in front of her. It was a side of Miku that Nibu didn’t particularly care for.

“We didn’t do anything wrong!” Miku argued.

“What part of breaking the rules is considered ‘not doing anything wrong’?” Hina raised her voice, Nibu could tell she was getting fed up.

“No one  _ explicitly _ said we couldn't go in!” 

“Well to be fair” Nibu laughed nervously “I think the entrance being surrounded by yellow tape that says ‘do not enter’ is explicit enough”

“I  _ seriously  _ doubt some guy got killed because we decided to enter a place that was off-limits”

“What about the book?” Nibu asked. “Do you still have it?”

Miku nodded. “Yeah it’s in my cabin”

“I think we should tell Kumi-san, she should know what to do,” Hina suggested.

“This has nothing to do with us!” Miku cried out exasperated.

Suddenly their phones beeped.

“It’s the captain,” Hina announced. “She says we will meet at her cabin to discuss today’s events”

“Right now?!” Groaned Miku.

“7pm” Hina said, putting away her phone. “So what are we gonna do? do we show her the book?”

Nibu pictured herself in one of those RPGs she used to play a lot when she was younger, a huge pop up screen in front of her with two alternate options: “ _ tell Kumi _ ” and “ _ keep it to yourself _ ” and her choice would define whether this story would have a bad ending. This was real life, though, and real life didn’t have a save menu you could go back to after a game over, she needed to choose wisely.

“I think we should tell everyone the full story, maybe they can help us” 

“Please, Miku!” Hina took her hand. “I know you’re scared, we all are but if what we did is the reason for this then… we need to tell everyone! it’s only fair!”

Miku sighed. “Fine” 

Hina thanked Miku while Nibu just smiled, she smiled widely, as wide as she possibly could, she tried to focus on smiling so she could ignore a nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her something bad was about to happen and it was all their fault.

After the incident, lunch had been quiet. Suzuka, Miho and Kyoko were missing. Konoka didn't say a single word throughout the entire thing. Nibu tried to crack a few jokes to ease the tension but failed catastrophically, needless to say, she too was freaking out. 

“I told you I heard something,” Haruyo mumbled.

“You’re right… sorry for not listening to you!” 

After that, the lessons were canceled for the day since the instructors were getting interviewed by the police and some of the girls were called up too. Suzuka and Konoka who had found the body, Haruyo who had heard the noise and Kyoko, Miho and Ayaka who had found Suzuka and Konoka in the forest. The rest would be interviewed tomorrow. Not Marii though which Nibu thought was weird.

Is that why Kumi wanted them to get together at night? Did she want to make sure everyone was on the same page?

The police had arrived after lunch, the island was about two hours away from the coast so it took them a while. It took Nibu by surprise to only see 3 police officers and a detective, she expected an entire police force but the boat that arrived later in the afternoon only contained five forensics in charge of extracting the body. They left soon after, taking whoever it was that had lost their life on the island along with them.  The investigators were to stay in one of the cabins off the villa, in the same area where the managers were staying. It was a 20-25 minute walk from the main building, crossing the outdoor field. The girls were instructed to not go into the woods and to always walk in pairs or groups.

Nibu laid on her bed quietly, waiting for her phone’s alarm to go off. She considered showering for a second, knowing well the effects chlorine had on hair, but for some reason she couldn't seem to get up. Mei and Ayaka slept quietly next to her, Ayaka clutching onto Mei’s arm. She  had jokingly proposed the night before to join all three beds to make one gigantic bed. Now Nibu felt relieved they had. It was reassuring to have her seniors next to her even if both of them were asleep. She felt sorry for Ayaka, the second she had come to at the lounge chair, she started crying. 

_ The nap will do Ayanee well. _

Ayaka was probably the warmest out of her seniors. From the very beginning she had always approached 2nd gens and tried to get to know them better. She’d bake them pastries every once in a while and would always try to make sure they felt included back then when there was still a huge rift between generations.

She managed to sit up and push herself to the edge of the bed. Her sight went to Ayaka and Mei who were still asleep. Nibu considered waking them up but decided to let them rest. For some reason, she knew it was gonna be a long night. 

Nibu showered quickly, constantly looking over her shoulder. She felt like someone was watching her but no matter how many times she turned, there was no one in the bathroom aside from her. When she came out, she noticed Mei was already awake. She put her index finger over her lips and pointed at Ayaka that was still sleeping next to her, Nibu nodded to let her know she understood and got dressed in silence while Mei fiddled with her phone and took a picture of sleeping Ayaka. Both tried to suppress a laugh.

Nibu’s phone’s alarm went off and Ayaka stirred, slowly regaining consciousness. 

“Aya” Mei shook Ayaka lightly. “you need to wake up, we should be at Kumi’s in ten”

“I don’t wanna go” Ayaka mumbled sleepily.

“Well you have to” 

“I don’t wanna!”

“You want me to call Kumi and tell her you don’t feel like going?”

Before Nibu could react, Ayaka jolted up and got out of bed. 

“Works like a charm” Mei winked at Nibu mischievously. 

_ As expected of Yancharu Mei. _

After Ayaka came out of the bathroom, Mei went in to wash her face and brush her teeth.

“Ayanee, are you alright?” Nibu asked Ayaka whose eyes were fixed on the floor. 

“I-I don’t know” 

Nibu quietly rested her head on Ayaka’s shoulder reassuringly, not knowing what to say. They stayed like that for about a minute until Mei came out and announced it was time to go.

By the time they arrived at Kumi’s, only half the group had arrived. The larger 4 people cabins had a central living room with two large couches and one single person couch forming a U around the fireplace. There was a small kitchen with a bar with two bar stools and a mini fridge. Ayaka and Mei sat with Kyoko and Sarina at the living room while Manafi was at the bar talking to Kumi and Katoshi. Haruyo sat on Mirei’s lap on the couch with Marii, who was awfully chatty despite the situation. Meanwhile, Hinano sat on the carpet talking to Nao and Mikuni.  Miku came out of the bathroom to greet them, in her usual warm Miku manner but the book under her arm made Nibu’s breath hitch.

Finally, Konoka, Miho and Suzuka arrived.

“I assume you all have a general idea of why I asked you to come,” Kumi began. “Needless to say, this is far from the ideal situation. As you might or might not know, this morning Matsuda and Tomita found a body in the woods, this body belonged to a man that worked on the island who had disappeared that same day. While Kato has advised me not to go into detail, the state of the body was…”

“Disturbing” Miho finished for Kumi. She was leaning on the wall by the entrance.

“Yes, thank you, Miho” she cleared her throat. “Now I don't want you guys to freak out, but you will all be interviewed by the detective and one of the officers tomorrow. I’m gonna need all of you on your best behavior —naturally— but that’s not the reason why I called you here”

There was a pause.

“It has come to my attention some of you have witnessed various things that might've been tied to the murder. Before we give all this information to the police, I would like all of us to be on the same page and because of that, I would like all of you to openly share any information (or suspicion) you might have. Not only to clear the air, but to make sure there are no surprises tomorrow” she glared at Miku.

Nibu’s eyes widened as soon as they found Hina’s across the room.

_ She knows. _

It was decided that Nibu would be the one to speak since she was most likely to get forgiven out of the three, but for some reason, in this moment of silence, her mouth wouldn't seem to open.

“Morimoto” Kumi called out.

Marii took a step forward. “This morning, when Tomita-san and I were getting ready to leave our cabin, we heard a strange noise coming from one of the rooms. Like… like someone was chopping up meat and bones”

Kyoko’s voice turned grave. “What room? Tomita, why weren’t we informed of this?”

“Your room, senpai, but listen there’s a —”

“You mean you heard the guy getting chopped up” her voice cracked. “in _my_ room and you never felt the need to inform us?”

“Kyoko, calm down,” Kumi warned her. “if it was this morning, I doubt they even had the chance to tell you?”

“oh, but during the free swimming period you were off doing god knows  _ what _ knowing full well Sarina or I could’ve gone back to the cabin to find a murdered person? what were you two even doing in the woods anyway?”

“ _ ENOUGH _ ”

Marii burst into tears. “I’m sorry, we didn’t know what to do. We thought we were just imagining things and then Haruyo — ”

“It’s alright, Marii-chan” Sarina rubbed the younger girl’s back. “no need to apologize. You were scared weren’t you? both of you were, What matters is none of us got hurt”

_ Except for the dead man in the woods. _

“That being said, there is another account we will listen to… my original plan was actually to reunite first gen to discuss a game plan, but Hina-chan approached me and said there was something her and a few others needed to tell everyone.”

_ Wait, what?! _

Hina looked at Nibu apologetically. 

_ Is this what being backstabbed feels like? _

“I’m sorry for lying to you” Hina looked at Miku who was ready to punch the lights out of her. “Everyone, I think this whole thing might be our fault”

Everyone looked at Hina, filled with confusion. Nibu knew that if she didn't step in, there was no way Miku was gonna hand over the book.

“The truth is, on our first day, when we were exploring the island, Kanemura, Kawata and I broke into cabin 6” Nibu blurted out. All eyes went to Nibu. The cabins were all numbered, Cabin 6 was the one that was off-limits.

“It was dumb and we’re sorry. We just wanted to find out why it was locked. For some reason, one of the back windows was wide open, we got curious and snuck in through there” 

“Thank you for telling us. There will obviously be consequences but we appreciate the honesty” Kumi said, “still... I don't understand how breaking into a cabin resulted in that man getting killed”

Nibu and Hina stared at each other in silence then they both looked at Miku that was clutching to the book in her hands so hard her knuckles were going white. 

“What these idiots were trying to say is that in the cabin, we found a bunch of files and other belongings of the people that used to own this island. Birth certificates that for some reason had been written over, torn pictures and this”

She lifted the book in her hands. It looked very old, its leather cover was worn out and peeling. 

“It’s a journal. There is a lot we weren't able to decode since it’s in english but from what we understood it seems they were an important swiss family that fled to the island because they were being persecuted. For some reason, once they were on the island it seems like one of the members of the family, it is unknown which went mad or anything along those lines but this diary belonged to them”

As if on cue, thunder boomed outside and it began to rain hard. 

“What are you implying?” Katoshi said carefully.

“We don't know,” Hina said. “We’re not sure at least. We do have a few theories”

“Any of these do not involve ghosts?” Mirei deadpanned.

“We think that maybe,” Hina said, ignoring Mirei. “by taking out the book we unlocked some sort of curse?”

“That’s ridiculous!” Mirei protested.

“We have another theory,” Miku said. “well, I do…”

“Couldn't it just be a regular murder?” Kyoko rolled her eyes.

“Thing is, this book describes how this person killed their family members and the first one to get killed was found in the same state as the body in the forest” Hina explained. 

“That could just be a coincidence! How did you even know about the state of the body anyway?”

“They asked me,” Miho shrugged. “didn't know I wasn't allowed to tell them”

“It could just be a coincidence, but what if it isn't? what I was going to tell you before is that—”

Thunder rolled again, this time louder than before and suddenly the lights went out. Nibu’s hands clutched the carpet under her, there were screams everywhere and people voicing out their confusion.

“What happened?”

There was a loud thud as if something had hit the ground. 

“The lights went out”

“We’re so fucked!” 

“Language!”

“Really?!”

As what seemed to be Kumi and Katoshi continued their lovers quarrel, a flash of lightning illuminated the room for a split second and there was a loud scream that was quickly muffled by the heavy rainfall.

“Everyone stay calm!”

“Maybe we should’ve lit up the fireplace,” Nibu pointed out.

“Everyone, your phones!” she recognized Miho’s voice.

Miho used her phone’s flashlight to find the control panel across the room and turn on the backup lights. The room steadily came back to life as the lights turned on but the relief was cut short by another scream.

“Konoka!” Suzuka called out, bending over the girl that laid on the ground, clutching her leg. Her cries out in pain could not be heard over the loud noise of the rain hitting theroof but the way her face contorted and the puddle of blood under her was enough to tell everyone they should act quickly.

“Miipan, get the first aid kit from the kitchen!” Kumi instructed. “Kyoko, get me a pair of scissors or a knife”

Without responding, both girls hurried over to fetch the items Kumi had asked for. Kumi laid Konoka on her back and removed her bloodsoaked hands to reveal a hunting knife buried into her left thigh. 

“Shit” Kumi muttered under her breath. “alright, I’m gonna need everyone to stand back cause I can't see”

The circle of people surrounding Kumi dispersed to the couches where everyone was peering over to see the captain in action.

“Sarina come here, I’m gonna need your help.”

Sarina held Konoka’s leg. Kumi and her had taken a course in first aid the year prior so she was the only one Kumi could trust to help her handle this as quickly as possible before Konoka lost too much blood.

She reached for the scissors and quickly started cutting and ripping through Konoka’s training pants until the left side of it looked like a very-short short. She handed it over to Sarina that quickly pressed down slightly above where the wound was and tightly tied the ripped cloth to slow down the bleeding.

“Kono-chan, I’m so sorry but this is gonna be far from pleasant. Give her something to bite”

Nao quickly handed Konoka the hairbrush she had brought with her.

“Okay, here I go,” Kumi warned. “You’re ready?”

Nibu suddenly realized that she wasn't saying that to Konoka but to Sarina.. She quickly took out a gauze and poured rubbing alcohol all over it and on Kumi’s hands. After taking out a bandage, she nodded to Kumi, indicating that she was ready.

Kumi put her right hand on Konoka’s thigh to stop her from moving and told Miho and Suzuka to hold her down. She took a deep breath and swiftly pulled the knife out. 

Konoka bit onto the brush’s handle and let out a muffled scream. As soon as the knife was out, Sarina quickly handed Kumi the gauze and held the bandage in her hands. Kumi put the gauze over the bleeding wound and Sarina started placing the bandage around her leg tightly, Kumi helped out and in the midst of it all Konoka passed out.

Nibu could feel herself getting light-headed and started walking away but her foot got stuck on a large object on the ground and she fell on her butt. Everyone was so focused on Kumi they didn't even notice she fell. It wasn’t until Nibu let out a high-pitched scream, she managed to catch their attention.

Right in front of her, lying flat on the ground,

_ was Miku’s lifeless body _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm aware you aren't supposed to pull out an object when stabbed, especially on the thigh, but this is *fiction*.
> 
> This fanfic was brought to you by: dream in which I'm at my grandma's house watching Hinata's newest mystery drama where Miku dies and * and * kiss by the pool. Also, the cabins in that dream looked like Carly's apartment in ICarly so you guys should picture it like that as well.


	6. Chapter 5: Into The Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the incident, Kumi divides the group into several task forces and while Sarina initially thinks her job is simple, she soon realizes when the sun goes down, the island becomes a completely different place with horrors looming in every corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! hope you guys enjoy this new chapter of ATTWK. Sarina was so much fun to write, Hinatazaka's holy mother is truly a reliable one in times of panic.

Sarina was so focused on what she was doing that it took her almost an entire minute to realize something was wrong. Even after she saw someone run to the bathroom to throw up, another girl collapse to the ground in tears and two others faint, she couldn't move. She just sat there with a passed out Konoka between her legs and a blank expression on her face. 

“What the fuck!” she heard Miho yell.

“How did this happen? Who did this? What—”

Sarina saw Kumi stand between the rest of the group and Miku. 

“Everyone, keep calm! Ayaka take the younger ones upstairs and stay there with them”

Ayaka nodded and took Hinano and the others away. Mikuni and Marii sobbed while Haruyo just looked away with an empty look on her face. The youngest on the other hand didn’t remove her eyes from her friend’s dead body until it was out of sight. As usual, her face was impossible to read.

“How the  _ fuck _ do we keep calm when there’s a dead Miku in our floor” Katoshi sobbed, her voice 3 octaves higher. It was the sound of raw panic.

Sarina gently moved Konoka’s head to the floor and stood up, her legs wobbled as she struggled to approach the captain who was on the verge of tears herself.

“Everyone!” she yelled, suddenly feeling self-conscious of the honey-like nature of her voice “please calm down. I know this is all horrible but if we fall into a panic, we won’t be able to figure out who did this”

Kumi’s confidence slowly returned to her eyes. she glanced at Sarina as if to thank her.

“This is what we’re gonna do right now”

“Miipan, I’m gonna need you to stay here and take care of Konoka, take her to one of the bedrooms and make sure to keep her leg elevated, Suzuka can stay with you to help. Hinano too, I’d rather she stays in the cabin as well” Mirei nodded obediently and her, Miho and Suzuka carried Konoka to Kikutoshi’s room.

“Suzuka, stay with Hinano and call Ayaka back!”

It wasn’t until Ayaka came out of the room with Mirei and Miho that Kumi proceeded.

“Ayaka, you will be going with Mikuni, Marii and Nao to find the nurse or at the very least painkillers and antibiotics for Konoka; Manafi, Hina and you will go to the library and try to contact Manamo and you three will try to decode the book, it might just be a coincidence but it might not be and we need to be prepared; Sarina, Katoshi, Miho, since the three of you are the fastest, I’m gonna need you to go fetch a manager. Kyoko, Nibu, Haruyo and I will go contact an island staff to call an ambulance”

“What about me?” Mei asked.

“You will go with Sarina and the rest” Kumi instructed “All of you will stay in these groups at ALL TIMES until we meet again here. You can't walk alone, whoever did this to Konoka and Miku will not hesitate to harm you too”

As everyone took their raincoats and umbrellas and began to leave, Sarina noticed Kyoko talking to Kumi.

“Are we gonna ignore the giant elephant in the room, whoever… did this to Miku was most likely in the cabin?” 

“Why do you think I made groups of three?” Kumi replied with a pained smile. Kyoko didn't say anything, she just nodded and left.

For the first time, Sarina approached Miku. Her eyes were closed (she assumed Kumi closed them out of respect) and her mouth was gaping slightly, her skin was still warm and everything about her looked fine aside from a long gash around her neck. Swallowing hard, she gently tilted Miku’s head to a side to examine the wound.

“What do you think?” Kumi asked Sarina, bending down.

“I’m not an expert but it looks like this was done with the exact same knife that impaled Konoka’s leg” She pointed at the wound. “see, the gash is pretty broad, couldn’t have been from a regular kitchen knife”

There was a pause.

“I heard what you told Kyoko,” Sarina said shyly.

“and?”

“and while I hate suspecting the people around me, I definitely think it’s best if everyone keeps their eyes peeled. What do I do with this?” Sarina took the knife out but as soon as Kumi caught sight of it she pushed it back into her pocket.

“Keep it with you for the time being, please be careful” Sarina nodded.

“What should we do about Miku, Naccho?” 

“I don't wanna tamper with the crime scene more than we already have,” Sarina sighed. “but it feels horrible to just leave her there, especially with Miipan and the kids in the other room”

“Let’s be real, Naccho… with this rain, no one’s coming to help us”

Sarina breathed out through her teeth. This was the painful fact Kumi didn't want the rest to hear. With the current rain, it was most likely they were stuck in the island at least for another day and not only did it mean no one got out but it also meant no help would be able to come.

“By the time someone does come, our biggest concern won't be who did it”

“Do you think the kids were right about the book?”

“That’s what I hope Manafi and Manamo can help us find out”

“Something tells me there's a reason Miku got killed specifically,” Sarina said thoughtfully. “She was about to tell us her other theory about the book before the lights went out, maybe whoever did this wanted to prevent us from finding out”

Unlike a lot of the people in the room, Sarina  _ did  _ believe in ghosts. Miku’s story was believable to her and if anything, the incident they had just witnessed just proved her belief. There was something strange about that book they had brought into the cabin, it brought shivers down her spine in a very bad way. 

“We’ll see about that”

Kumi put a blanket over Miku before they got going.

“You ready, Naccho?” Katoshi asked as soon as she left the cabin. Almost everyone was gone except for Miho, Mei, Katoshi, Kyoko, Haruyo and Nibu.

Sarina opened her umbrella and began to seriously regret putting on crocs.

_ At least the rain will wash the blood off of them.  _

The rest of her group and her quickly hurried to the outdoor field, it was the quickest route to the cabins beyond the villa.

“Let’s hurry up,” Katoshi said, trying to cover her face with the hood of her raincoat.

As she walked, Sarina couldn't help but feel thankful towards the staff that left umbrellas in everyone’s closets. While it was true that it was the rainy season in Japan, she didn't think it would actually rain, but it seems like the staff came more prepared than her. The sun had already set and as they walked further from the main area, the illumination grew dimmer but they couldn't risk taking out their phones in the rain so they just walked quietly trying to prevent themselves from slipping on the wet grass and soft mud accumulating on the soles of their shoes. 

She looked at Miho, she couldn't tell if she was crying or if it was the cold rain making her sniffle. She offered her a pat on the back and a warm smile but the younger girl just looked at her miserably. Miho was close to both Konoka and Miku so she was one of the ones taking this whole situation the hardest. 

But no matter how much it hurt her, Miho kept walking.

“Naccho-san?” Miho whispered. “do you think Matsuda will be okay?” 

Sarina swallowed hard. The truth was that she had lost a great amount of blood and she still wasn't 100% sure taking the knife out was the best idea aside from the obvious fact that it reduced the risk of infection since it allowed Kumi to clean the wound more thoroughly… but there was still a risk of infection. Considering the fact that Kumi was right and help would most likely not arrive in at least 12 or so hours and that was only if the rain calmed down soon enough for the water to not rise too much… worst case scenario, help wouldn’t arrive until wednesday when more staff came to drop Hiyotan off. It was currently Sunday.

“She'll be fine, Miho-chan” Sarina lied through her teeth.

_ A little white lie will do no harm. _

“I see” She looked down at the wet grass that sploshed with every step “thank you for saving her, you really are amazing”

“Not really” Sarina laughed nervously “Kumi did most of the work”

“Had you not been there, would Konoka have survived?” 

“...most likely not,” she said quietly.

_ We don’t know if she will survive even with my help. _

“Then I am indebted to you, Ushio-san” 

Sarina was speechless.

“We can’t stop walking,” Katoshi said.

They sped up their pace and caught up to the other two. 

“We’re almost at the edge of the forest” Announced Mei.

To get to the cabins, they had to follow a 500m path through the forest, the problem was that with all the rain and the looming darkness all the light they could use was that of the moon which would be covered by the trees within the forest.

“I can’t see shit!” 

“The rain is barely coming down here, you can use your phone’s flashlight,” Sarina told Katoshi.

Everyone turned on their phone’s flashlight and Sarina got a notice that her phone was at 20%. She made a mental note to go get her portable battery from her cabin as soon as she got back.

“Let’s walk a little faster,” Mei urged the others. “be careful, the mud is slippery”

After a few minutes, Sarina finally spotted light coming from the cabin windows. Her heart started racing as she ran towards the ray of hope that shone from the window of the nearest cabin. They all gathered at the entrance and sorted out what they were gonna say and how they were gonna say it.

“Knock” Katoshi told Mei.

“You knock” Mei retorted.

Miho stepped in front of them. “I’ll knock!”

They waited for a few seconds and then knocked again. No answer.

“Maybe they’re asleep?” Sarina suggested.

“Who the fuck is asleep at 8pm? we’re supposed to have dinner in half an hour” 

Mei knocked again. Still no answer.

Miho got annoyed and tried to tug at the door handle that twisted with ease. They all looked at each other in panic and Sarina motioned at her to just go ahead and open the door.

“I’m sorry to intrude” Miho called out loudly as she opened the door only to find out that the lights were off.

_ Something’s off. This smell… _

“That’s strange, pretty sure we saw the light from the window” Katoshi said as she reached for the power switch. 

It took Sarina a second to identify the smell but before she could tell them to get out of there, the lights turned on and they were greeted by a scene that would normally be associated with a horror film. Within the cabin, two of their three male managers laid sprawled on the floor, one of them with multiple stab wounds on his chest while the other laid on top of the table with his throat slit, just like Miku. Blood dripped from the table creating a horrible tapping sound against the hardwood floor. Sarina was sure it’d remain in her head for the months to come.

Before Mei could scream, Miho and Katoshi covered her mouth.

“We need to be quiet,” Katoshi whispered. “we don’t know who’s listening”

Mei nodded and they let go of her.

They hurried to the next cabin, where she assumed she would find their female managers in the exact same state. Mei whispered something to Miho and she nodded and carried her on her shoulders so she could peek inside the window. Mei quickly patted Miho’s hand so she’d put her down.

Mei shook her head.

“all of them?” Katoshi mouthed.

Mei nodded.

Katoshi crouched and the drops of water on her raincoat’s hood came spilling down.

“What now?” asked Miho. “The officers? they said they’d be staying around here. Should we check out every cabin, see if anyone’s still…”

“Alive?” Mei deadpanned.

“Whoever did this could still be around, I think we should get out of here” 

A scream came from a cabin a few meters away and Sarina’s fight or flight reflex activated.

“We should go help them” 

“No! we need to get away as quickly as possible” Said Katoshi.

“I agree with Sarina” Miho grabbed Katoshi’s wrist. “these people are our only chance at getting out of here if they die, so do we”

Katoshi turned to the girl on her right. “Mei?” 

“We’re dead either way, I don't care” she replied nonchalantly.

“Fine”

They sneaked around and agreed to have Sarina and Katoshi keep watch while the more agile Mei and Miho snuck in from the back. They agreed to just try to get as many people out of there but almost as soon as they went in, they came running out.

“What happened?”

“They’re all dead” Miho gasped for air. “we were lucky he didn't see us”

“Who?” 

“The detective”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My plan is to have chapter 7 up by the end of the week which means two more chapters to go before I start spacing them out a bit more. Don't forget to comment! I wanna know what you guys think of my story,
> 
> —Shrink


	7. Chapter 6: A Senior’s Responsibility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starring:  
> Marii as... The One That Somehow Always Ends Up Involved  
> Nao as... Billie Dean Howard from American Horror Story  
> Ayaka as... The Unwilling Babysitter  
> and Mikuni as... Takahashi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #pray4ayaka

Ayaka led the kids to the small clinic at the northern edge of the island. While It hadn’t been a surprise that Kumi had assigned her to babysitting duty, that didn’t mean she was fond of the responsibility that came with it. If anything were to happen to any of them, it’d be her fault… hopefully it wouldn’t come to that though. 

Even though Nao was only a year older than Marii and Mikuni, she could tell she was making an effort to help Ayaka out. Back at the cabin, she had been the one who had managed to get Marii to calm down, while Mikuni had just dried her tears and nodded as soon as Ayaka had given them their assignment. In a way, Mikuni felt like the leader of the four. Even though Hinano was the more experienced one, she’d always take charge and apologize in their stead whenever any of her gen-mates messed up. 

She giggled to herself. In that sense she reminded her of a younger Kyoko… of the boyish, blunt Kyoko she rarely got to see anymore.

“Is something wrong, Ayanee?” Marii, who walked besides her, asked.

She bit her lip. Surely, in this situation, being caught laughing to oneself would make anyone look like a madman. Ayaka only shook her head and told her it was nothing.

After almost half an hour of walking in the rain, they arrived at the beach. Waves crashed against the tall rocks near the coast, it was hard to overlook how much the water had risen in the past hour or so, It wasn’t even fully night time yet. 

_ There’s no way we’re getting back to Yamaguchi with this tide _

“I’m sure it’ll settle, Ayanee” Nao whispered. 

Ayaka almost jolted back, she hated when Nao did that. Even if she was right, one thing was for sure: no one was going in or out of the island for the time being. This only meant their mission, while simple, was more important than ever. Kumi had written down on Ayaka’s phone what she needed to get but in theory the nurse there should be the one to have a look at Konoka and administer it.

In theory.

They took a short breather which Ayaka appreciated. The truth was she had pulled a muscle when she had fainted a few hours earlier and walking was a bit painful. Mikuni crouched down and stretched her legs while Marii sat on a nearby rock with Nao whose sight was still on Ayaka, she was sure she had noticed her limp.  While Nao was a quiet and shy girl, she was extremely observant, so much that people would often joke she was a mind reader. Ever since they arrived at the island though, Nao’s behavior had changed. She had become even more quiet than usual and she always seemed to be deep in thought, as if trying to piece together a large amount of information.

“I’m sorry about Miku,” Ayaka offered.

Nao smiled politely in response. Nao and Miku had a difficult dynamic, sometimes they were friends and sometimes they were rivals, not intentionally of course, but still. Second gens had always been particularly competitive, their dynamic was very different from first gens that had a very team-centered mentality. In Ayaka’s opinion, healthy competition was good but it definitely took a toll on Nao that never asked to become the center of it. 

“Do you… want to talk about it?”

Nao shook her head.

“Do you want a hug?” 

Nao nodded pathetically and Ayaka bent down to wrap her arms around her in an awkward hug. As soon as she made contact with the younger girl, her shoulders began to shake and she rested her forehead on her chest, sobbing silently. Ayaka caressed Nao’s hair while she cried. After a few minutes, she dried her face with her sleeve and pointed out that they should get going. Marii and Mikuni tailed quietly.  The group arrived at a small hut a few minutes later. They closed their umbrellas once they were below the roof and left them drying against the wall. Ayaka took a deep breath and knocked.

“Coming!” a female voice called out.

Everyone sighed in relief as they were greeted by a woman in her mid thirties wearing scrubs. She smiled at them warmly and invited them in. Mikuni, Marii and Ayaka sat down at the bench near the entrance while Nao remained on her feet. She seemed uneasy.

“What seems to be the problem?” 

“Our friend accidentally stabbed herself in the leg” Nao lied. “We need you to come take a look at her, maybe give her some pain medication or antibiotics so it doesn't get infected”

Ayaka was surprised at how naturally Nao was able to lie, that was definitely a dangerous ability to have.

“Oh my” the nurse stood up and walked towards her counter. “Let me just grab my things so we can get going”

She bent down and unlocked the medicine cabinet and took out a bunch of medicine bottles and stuffed them in her bag along with an alcohol bottle, a gauze and bandages and a bunch of other things to close down the wound Ayaka might’ve missed, what she didn't miss though was a large scalpel she quickly stuffed in the outer pocket. She wasn’t sure why a nurse would need one but refrained from pointing it out.

“Let’s get going then” her eyes closed every time she smiled.

Marii and Mikuni quickly got up and the nurse followed, Ayaka waited until the nurse got out to leave. 

_ Something’s not right. _

They climbed up the hill to take the main path back to the villa. Ayaka watched the nurse’s back as she walked. Marii and Mikuni talked about lessons the next day, probably forgetting what had happened a little over an hour ago. S he made eye contact with Nao who seemed to be observing the nurse as well. Her stomach rumbled. It must’ve been dinnertime already. She wondered if the managers were gonna cancel dinner once they found out about Miku, she didn't want to be selfish but the hunger was killing her. She was very thirsty too but she didn't know if it was safe to drink the rainwater so she just kept walking.

The nurse suddenly started talking. “Could you please explain to me what happened to your friend?”

“s-sure” Ayaka stuttered. “y-you see…”

“She was trying to open a coconut and the knife slipped and she stabbed herself in her thigh” Nao interrupted.

The nurse nodded and then kept quiet.

_ Does this island even have coconuts? _

The nurse’s pace slowed down more and more every few seconds and while Ayaka initially tried to match her speed, she found herself leaving the nurse behind once they were at the top of the hill.

“Don't mind me!” the nurse yelled. “I’ll catch up with you, my legs just aren't what they used to be”

From the crest, they could see the entire villa: the main building, the cabins, the pool, the tennis courts and if she focused her eyes, she could even catch a glimpse of the cabins beyond the woods where the staff and managers were staying. She was too caught up by the view she didn't notice when the fifth pair of steps stopped. Marii and Mikuni’s voices behind her and the rain drowned out pretty much every other sound and it took Ayaka almost an entire minute to realize something was off.

“Takahashi! Marimoto!” Nao called out to them.

“Huh?” Marii looked around. “Where did the nurse go?”

It was then Ayaka realized the nurse was nowhere to be seen but before she could react, Nao yelled again, this time more roughly. “Get out of the way!”

From the bushes, sprang the nurse and jumped on top of Mikuni, Marii screamed and ran towards them. Mikuni pushed her away and the nurse fell backwards hitting her head with a rock and passed out. 

Ayaka ran towards her while Marii and Nao watched from above.

“Did I kill her? I think I killed her, Ayanee-san what am I gonna — ” Mikuni stopped talking wide eyed and slowly looked down. Ayaka followed her line of sight. 

Slowly, she raised her arm over her head and there it was, the handle of the scalpel Ayaka had seen a few minutes back. The handle was sticking out from the inner part of Mikuni’s arm. The girl slowly placed her hand on it and looked up at Ayaka with tears in her eyes.

“Whatever you do, do not pull i... ” but it was too late.

The next few seconds were a blur of Ayaka’s blood drenched hands desperately gripping Mikuni’s arm, trying to slow down the bleeding. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the nurse stir. Her sight went to Nao and Marii that just stared at them, wordlessly.

“Nao! Take the bag and Marii and get out of here!” Ayaka cried out.

Nao hesitated for a second and then walked toward the nurse’s lying figure. She reached down to grab the bag but as she was about to walk away, a hand grabbed Nao’s ankle. In the midst of panic, Nao repeatedly hit the nurse in the face with the hard base of the medical bag. There was an awful sound and the hand suddenly let go of her ankle. Nao looked at Ayaka, her eyes filled with fear.

“Don’t worry about us!” Ayaka cried. “go! go!”

Without looking back again, Nao took Marii’s hand and they ran away, down the hill and out of sight. Ayaka sighed and carefully laid Mikuni down, letting go of her umbrella. She peered over her shoulder to find the Nurse’s face completely crushed.

Ayaka tried to emulate what she had seen Kumi do, she used the scalpel to cut off part of Mikuni’s raincoat and messily tried to tie it on her arm but the blood wouldn’t stop. Ayaka had to slap her face to keep herself from fainting, she wasn’t used to seeing blood gush out like that.

“I feel dizzy,” Mikuni mumbled.

Ayaka hastily did everything she could think of to slow down the bleeding but it only seemed to make things worse. After a minute that felt like half an hour, Mikuni sighed for the very last time and Ayaka was left alone, staring down at her junior’s lifeless face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rest in Peace, Takahashi
> 
> (fun fact, it was originally Mao that died in this chapter and her death was gonna be hilarious... so rip mao too)


	8. Chapter 7: In Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what to say about this chapter except I'm sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're scrolling up to see if you're in the right chapter...
> 
> you are. keep reading,

“Say, Kyoko” Katoshi called out casually. “Isn't this exciting?”

“Nothing about our friends, and possibly us, dying is exciting” Kyoko deadpanned. “Now let’s find that book so we can get the fuck out of here” 

They walked past a several bookshelves to the one furthest to the back. 

“Found it” she called out. The " _book_ " seemed to be binder filled with a bunch of official documents: birth certificates, marriage certificates and even receipts of purchase.

“So this is where the head of the family hid all his stuff before he died,” Kyoko thought out loud. “Guess he knew his entire cabin would be ransacked and, as Manamo predicted, he hid a copy of all his important documents in the library”

“As expected of Manamo!” Katoshi smiled. “We would all be goners without her, I’m glad she was able to help us without putting herself at risk” 

“Wonders of the internet! I’m glad it has stopped raining…”

“I’m gonna kiss her if we manage to get out of here alive,” Katoshi said excitedly. “I’m not joking!”

Kyoko chuckled awkwardly. “I don't think that’d be such a good idea cause y’know…”

Katoshi tilted her head to the side. “know what?”

“...that she likes girls?”  Kyoko stared at her feet awkwardly. It was an open secret that Manamo had a preference for the fairer sex. 

“oh  _ that?  _ and what about it?”

“Well, what if she gets the wrong idea? that you like girls too, i mean”

“Kyoko,  _ everyone  _ likes girls!” Katoshi stuffed the book in her bag. 

Kyoko's skin turned red from ear to ear. “N-not me!”

“ _ Especially _ you!”

Kyoko unconsciously touched her cheeks and realized they were burning.

Katoshi creeped closer. “Don’t tell me when you were recording that drama with Otake, you never wondered what would happen if you were told you had to kiss her”

“I-I did! b-but not in a wishful way! if anything, I was fearing that the director would tell us we would have a kiss scene”

“Fearing you might  _ like it _ ” Katoshi corrected her, taking another step forward, a little too close to Kyoko’s personal space.

Kyoko attempted to back away but ended up bumping her head on one of the pillars.  “W-what about you though, you said  _ everyone _ likes girls, does that mean you… have you ever tried it?”

Katoshi pondered over her answer for a second. “I have yeah, I definitely do have a preference for men but I was curious and it was... fine”

“With who? don't tell me you’ve kissed Kumi!”

Katoshi’s expression changed. “Of course not! what’s wrong with you?”

“Then who? a high-school friend?” Kyoko interrogated Katoshi, suddenly feeling very meddlesome. For some reason, she really wanted to know, especially cause she had a feeling her friend might’ve been lying to freak Kyoko into saying something she didn't mean.

Katoshi showed her a toothy grin. “what were we discussing again?”

“It can’t be…” realization suddenly hit her. “you hooked up with  _ Manamo _ ?”

“Ding ding ding!”

Kyoko leaned back on the bookcase feeling the shock of this revelation hit her like a freight train, it was completely out of left field. “How did that even happen?”

“I asked her about the rumors, she said they were true and asked me if I had ever kissed a girl. I said I hadn't but it wasn't something I was completely against doing...”

“That just means you’re a whore!” Kyoko retorted.

“...she told me if i was ever curious, I should hit her up, so I did! It was fun. Not a big deal”

Kyoko swallowed hard. How did she end up having this conversation in the midst of a life or death situation. 

_ Wait a minute. _

She arched her brows suddenly understanding a little too well where this was going.

“We should get going,” Kyoko changed the topic. “the others will be waiting for us” 

“What? do you think it’s weird?” Katoshi walked after Kyoko. “or could it be you’re jealous I thought of it first?”

“Y-you didn't think of anything! the opportunity just fell on your lap and you took it!”

Katoshi grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving

“I-I know what you’re trying to do, you know” Kyoko turned to face Katoshi. “only  _ you  _ would think about sex in a life or death situation!”

“Maybe so” Katoshi pulled Kyoko closer, the sensation of her friend’s warm breath against her ear sent shivers down her spine. She wiggled her hand ever so lightly and realized Katoshi’s grip on her wrist wasn’t very strong.

_ I could easily get her to let go, so why is my body not moving? _

“Think about it, we’re most likely gonna die here anyway” Katoshi whispered. “isn't there anything you would like to try before you die”

The other girl was looking down at her like a wolf looks at its prey. Kyoko's sight went to her lips that were slowly coming closer. Katoshi grabbed her chin and tilted her face upwards and Kyoko found herself clutching at the hem of her shirt, afraid she might lose her balance. Her eyelids slowly closed as she braced herself for what was coming.

but it never came...

Suddenly Katoshi burst into laughter and backed away.

“Sike!” Katoshi giggled.

“What?” was all Kyoko could say in the midst of it all. Her mind had gone numb, unable to process what had just happened.

“I was just messing with you, Kyoko” she wiped a fake tear. “you’re so easy to tease”

A mix of anger and humiliation consumed her and she lunged at her, pushing her and pulling at her hair while the other girl just laughed out loud. Kyoko charged at her again, making both of them lose their balance and fall to the ground. Kyoko rolled over and sat on her stomach. Instinctively, she wrapped her hands around her neck and for a split second, seriously considered squeezing the lights out of her, but she just pushed her down gently. It didn't take long for Kyoko to realize Katoshi wasn't laughing anymore, she was just staring at her wide eyed with her mouth slightly agape. 

Katoshi cracked a smile. “this is kinda hot”

“Fuck you” Kyoko found herself grinning.

“This is your chance, Saito Kyoko” 

Katoshi lifted her head a bit and angled it upwards, making Kyoko lick her lips self-consciously.

“I don’t understand what you’re doing,” Kyoko confessed.

She felt like she was losing her sanity. Here she was, being seduced by her supposedly straight group-mate at a library on a haunted island. 

“I’m just teasing you, Kyoko” Katoshi tilted her head upwards. “but I’m also trying to teach you a lesson…”

The buzzing of her ears made Kyoko dizzy.

_ Let go… what have you got to lose? _

“...if you want something. Y _ou_ __take i_ t _ ” 

While the offer suddenly seemed tempting, a part of her didn’t want to admit she had once again fallen for one of Katoshi’s tricks. 

“or could it be you’re too scared to — ”

Kyoko forcefully pressed her lips against hers, she was tired of hearing her talk. Her friend was fun to be around but she also had a very sick sense of humor and knew how to push each and every single one of Kyoko's buttons. She just needed her to shut up, even if just for a few seconds. 

T he taller girl was quick to kiss back, her lips were glossy and sweet. It was a strange but pleasant feeling. She had only ever kissed men before and their stubble made Kyoko's face feel itchy, whereas Katoshi’s skin was nice and smooth. She also smelled better than any of the men she had ever dated  


Kyoko noticed she was trying to sit up and pushed her down. 

_ I’m in control of this situation. _

Without thinking about it too much, Kyoko moved away from Katoshi’s mouth and started kissing her neck, biting down lightly every time the other girl flinched. She had forgotten how ticklish the other girl is. As she sucked on her collarbone, it suddenly occurred to her how much she wanted to leave a mark.

_ I’m in control after all. _

“Kyo-” Katoshi gasped but was quickly interrupted by Kyoko’s lips. Suddenly forgetting her surroundings, she stuck her hand under her shirt, feeling her friend’s skin get covered in goosebumps as her cold hand caressed her bare stomach. 

It suddenly hit her that she was definitely not in control, if anything, she was being controlled by her own impulses. 

“Kyo...ko” Katoshi whispered her name.

“Kyoko!” another voice called out. “Kyoko, wake up”

Kyoko suddenly jolted awake to see Kumi, Haruyo and Nibu staring down at her.

“W-what happened?” 

“You fell asleep,” Nibu explained. 

“Kyoko, we need to come up with a plan b” 

Kyoko just stared at Kumi, filled with confusion and embarrassment.

_ Leave it to me to have a sexy dream in the midst of a life or death situation. _

She mentally slapped herself and prayed she hadn't accidentally said anything out-loud. 

_ A lot to unfold here but now’s not the time. _

Kyoko gulped hard, begging herself to stop thinking about it. Suddenly remembering why they were hiding in the first place. They had gone to the main building in search of help but the telephone line had been cut and there was no signal on the island since the blackout. Next thing they knew they were being chased by one of the Hotel staff with a fireman ax and they hid in a janitor’s closet. The image of her and Katoshi at the library came to mind again again.

_ Wait. Library. _

“Weren’t Takase and Hina trying to contact Manamo? If they managed to video chat with her, we can just tell Manamo to call for help!”

Kumi nodded. “It’s our best chance, but since we can't call Manafi or Hina using our phones, we’ll have to go to the library ourselves”

“...but first we need to get out of here”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanna point out anything Katoshi said in Kyoko's dream isn't part of the fic's canon, it's just Kyoko's brain making up ridiculous scenarios for no reason.
> 
> Sadly this chapter isn't purely self-indulgent, it's relevant to the plot later on but I also thought it would be absolutely HYSTERICAL if this happened to Kyoko so I couldn't NOT add it. I feel like deep inside, Kyoko has always had this irrational fear of Manamo (she probably sees her as some sort of predator) so I needed to incorporate it to the fic somehow. 
> 
> But as promised in the tags: gay panic Kyoko. This is gonna be fun, I promise.
> 
> Unfortunately though, and maybe its a spoiler idk this is a MURDER MYSTERY fic so don't expect sexy times. You AREN'T GONNA GET IT! Like Kyoko herself said: people are getting KILLED! there's no time! I'm not gonna bait you with any "tune in next chapter to find out ;)" bs. This fic is rated Mature for VIOLENCE and occasional GORE. 
> 
> Also, this concludes my initial batch of uploads. From now on, I'll be updating every Saturday until the fic ends.  
> PEACE OUT!  
>  \- Shrink


	9. Chapter 8: The Data Collecting Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing to do with the chapter but I want everyone to picture Manamo spinning around in a white shawl while Rhiannon plays in the background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! happy ATTWK Saturday! I hope you guys missed me. This chapter and the one after it are pretty cute imo, I tried to make Hina a bit more realistic, her chara makes her very hard to write so it might seem ooc but I have the headcanon that she can turn pretty cold when stressed out.

Manafi has always been bad with feelings. Memi once said that if she ever tried to make a crying person feel better, she’d most likely just make them cry harder. She wished Memi was still around, she would have known what to do and even if she didn't, Manafi would've at least felt less lost if her friend was with her. At the very least, she would’ve been better at dealing with a girl that might’ve accidentally gotten one of her friends killed.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Manafi said, breaking the silence.

Hina only looked at her but didn’t reply.

“Seriously” pressed Manafi. “no one believes it was”

“I see no point in discussing this,” Hina muttered.

“Fine” Manafi sighed, gripping onto her umbrella. 

Both of them were on their way to the library in the middle of the worst rain Manafi had ever had to be outside for. If it hadn’t been for the... particular circumstances, she would’ve just stayed at her cabin. But then again, she was the only one who could understand English, they  _ needed  _ Manafi. That didn’t happen very often. She had always been the least popular member, she sucked at fan-service and it took her awhile to finally find a proper chara, but now that she had, she was slowly becoming more useful to the group and she loved how that felt. She wanted to keep on being useful and so, here she was, trying her best to help Hina interpret some cursed diary.  If she were to be honest, Manafi still wasn’t sure how she felt about the book. On one hand, she had never been one to believe in the supernatural, but on the other, she didn’t know if she was willing to risk anyone else losing their lives because she was being close-minded. Something was off about their story though, Manafi knew Nibu and Hina were hiding something and she was bent on finding out what it was. She hoped she’d understand better once she sat down and properly tried to translate the diary. That is, if the _it_ _ did  _ have anything to do with what had happened.

“I wonder if we’ll even have wifi with this storm” 

“The computers in the library are connected directly to the router by an ethernet cable so as long as there’s electricity, there should be no issue” Hina said monotonously.

“Wow” Manafi laughed nervously, “you sure know a lot about computers, Hina-chan”

“I was in the data-collecting club in middle school, it was like a robotics club but we worked with regular computers too sometimes, coding and stuff” Hina explained nonchalantly. “It wasn’t very exciting but it’s actually really useful knowledge”

“Can you like, hack phones and stuff?”

“I might.” 

_ This is way too out-of-character. _

“I knew it was gonna rain, so I had already checked out the library to see what I'd be entertaining myself with once we’d get stuck in our cabins for an entire day” She chuckled bitterly. “and now it’s raining and look at us out here anyway”

They arrived at a large building with wide wooden doors. Hina swiftly took out her phone and the USB cable and connected it to one of the computers while Manafi sat down on the chair next to Hina’s and took the book out of her bag. She turned on the reading light and opened the first page.  As Miku had said, it was a journal. The handwriting was ugly but understandable, she took out her phone and opened the notes app to type out and translate anything she deemed of any importance.

“I’m about to call Miyata,” Hina said. “don’t tell her about Kono or Miku”

Manafi paid little mind to her words and just hummed in response. her entire focus was on the supposed diary. The handwriting seemed like that of a man, but the phrasing made it seem like it might’ve been a woman’s. She skipped a few pages as nothing she did not know was being said, just what the others had already told her about this family that had to escape their home country and settle on this island to hide from the government. As the pages went on, the handwriting got messier and the sentence structure became more and more unclear until she finally found what she had been looking for.

_ I killed somebody yesterday. I tied them up and cut off their ears one  _

_ after the other, I started to pull out their teeth but the bell for dinner _

_ rang and I had to get cleaned up. The next morning I visited them, _

_ they had flies in their eyes and smelled horrible.  _

_ So this is what a dead body looks like... _

_ It was a rather exhilarating experience. I would like to do it _

_ again but I fear getting caught. _

Manafi swallowed hard.

_ What a nut-job. _

“Manamo, hey!” Hina said.  


“Hey, Hina-chan, what’s up? oh! hi, Mana!”

“Hello, Manamo” Manafi waved at her. “We need your help, hope you aren’t too busy”

“Sure! What's up?”

“We need you to help us find out about this island’s past owners” 

“That’s very sudden” Manamo chuckled. “Why so?”

“Manafi-san and I are just very curious” Hina gave her an innocent smile and Manafi suddenly understood Hina’s power.

“What do you want me to figure out?” Manamo started typing inhumanly fast. 

“Shiho is convinced they were murdered,” Manafi said. “something along those lines”

“Odd, but let's see…” 

A few minutes passed while Manamo and Hina both searched online on their respective computers and Manafi went back to the journal. The next few pages were quite uneventful, the author described a certain “urge” or “curiosity” but didn’t go further into detail. Then there was something about a ritual? she wasn't too sure.  


“This is odd” Manamo suddenly said.

“What is?” 

“I’m going through all news reports regarding this island’s name and I couldn't find anything about these supposed murders that happened here”

"Maybe it didn't actually happen..." Manafi thought out loud.

“Could it be that the government tried to cover it up?” Suggested Hina.  


“It could be, yeah, but it would still appear on some of the smaller news sites. Give me a second, I have a friend that might be able to help us out” she paused the screen and muted the call.

“I wonder who this friend is…”

“It’s probably from one of those occult facebook groups Manamo is in?” Hina thought out loud without much interest, she took out her phone and sighed. “No signal”

“What do you mean ‘occult’?”

“Aren't you friends with Manamo?” Hina lifted an eyebrow. “Manamo is a huge fan of the occult and she’s even on this super secret forum where they discuss conspiracy theories and stuff. To me it looks like a load bullshit but she seems to believe in it. She's very close to one of the users there”

_ Jesus, this girl is rude, I’m her senior!  _

_ I had never seen her act like this though. _

“Do you still not believe? even after everything that’s happened today?”

Hina stayed quiet for a bit. “Let’s see what Manamo has to say”

Manafi nodded and once again went back to the diary, she noticed a few pages were torn, then there were a few blank pages she skipped past and finally the last 10-ish pages were crusty with brown dried blood, the writing wasn't very clear and some of the words were fuzzy, she started transcribing what she could understand.

_ ____________________ found out. He kept trying to get me alone _

_ to talk to me but I managed to avoid him until ______________________ _

_ which I found weird but at least he's not angry. Though I still don't know _

_ what to say. I'm not ready but he's right, this secret of mine is now an _

_ opportunity but ____________________________ or at least that's what mom _

_ says. The biggest problem is__________________________________________ _

_ _____________________________________________________________if that gets _

_ out, there's no telling what they will do. The ___________ is still __________  
_

_ _________________________________________, I need to find a way in. _______ _

And that was the final entry that could be read. Manafi wasn’t quite sure about some of the words but that seemed to be the most she could do right now. She’d have to translate it to Japanese as accurately as possible, see if anything here rings a bell to Hina. So many things still made no sense to her. Why was the journal covered in blood? who’s blood is it? She started translating it. After a few minutes, Manamo logged back in, she seemed very alarmed.

“Manamo?” Manafi called out. “what’s wrong?”

Manamo looked strangely pale. “please tell me you didn’t take the journal out of the cabin”

Hina and Manafi made eye-contact and then looked at the worn-out book in front of Manafi.

“What did you find out?” Hina dodged the question. “from the beginning”

“Well, the island used to belong to an important European family that fled during the second world war, but the second they arrived, people that lived on the island started being reported missing. In the end, they couldn’t ignore the coincidence and some of the locals snuck in to find out the truth. It turns out the family was involved in witchcraft and was killing the locals as some sort of sacrifice. The family was found within one of the cabins of their plot of land, all of them dead, the oldest daughter holding a journal. After various incidents years later, the locals claimed that the journal was cursed and hid it in the same cabin where the bodies were found and the island was deserted until some rich investor bought it in the mid seventies. It seems like the reason that you can’t find information on it on popular sites has to do with the fact that the family was being protected by the japanese government for some reason, all official reports of this event mysteriously went missing one by one, leaving only the stories the people that used to live in the island told. When management rented this island, they most likely didn’t know of its backstory — since there isn’t one, officially, but it's safe to assume they got it at a suspiciously cheap price”

Manafi stood up. “we need to tell the others!”

“I’m not finished yet,” Manamo protested. “My friend told me to give you a warning, the legend says that by taking the journal out of the cabin, you free the spirits of the deceased family and they will try once again to complete the sacrifice. It is unknown what the objective of the rite is but anything that requires human lives can’t be good.”

“Yeah… about that,” Hina said.

“Please tell me that the intention of your call truly is sheer curiosity…” 

“And if for some reason, someone happened to take out the journal, hypothetically speaking, of course” Manafi began. “what could we do to return these evil spirits to the cabin”

“Which one of you was it?”

“Kanemura, Nibu and I,” Hina confessed.

“Wasn’t there some sort of  _ keep out _ sign? something?”

“There was, we just ignored it”

“Well I’ll have to check my sources but as far as I know, there is no record of how the locals originally locked the souls back in the cabin many years ago.”

“You’ve helped us a lot anyway,” Manafi smiled.   


“I’ll do some research and get back to you, please be safe. Oh! one other very important thing I forgot to tell you, as the spirits have no physical body they —”

The lights suddenly went out and the computer turned off before Manamo could finish what she was saying. A few seconds turned into a minute but the lights never came back.

“What do we do now?” Hina asked, clinging to Manafi’s arm.

“I don’t like this, we should get out of here” Manafi thought out loud. She held the book to her chest with the arm Hina was holding on to while she illuminated the room with her phone’s flashlight using the other. She cautiously led the way out of the library as her mind tried to make sense of the current situation and what Manamo had tried to say to them. When they finally reached the exit, Manafi gave the empty library a final glance, it got its little illumination from the moonlight but she wouldn’t say it helped anyone see. Lightning flashed and Manafi could’ve sworn she saw a figure standing by the computer they were at, watching them go.

She shook her head and remembered hunger made people hallucinate. 

_ I’m seeing things. _

She hurried out of the building and opened her umbrella for Hina and herself. A few meters away, she spotted four figures coming from over the hill.

“Nibu-chan!” Hina called out and the girl waved them. Forgetting all about the umbrella she had been sharing with Kumi, she ran towards Hina. Manafi let out a snort when she noticed the way her bangs messily stuck to her face, in a very Nibu manner.

She hugged Hina and Manafi who was taken aback by the sudden physical contact.

“Mana” Kyoko yelled. “were you guys able to find anything?”

“Sort of…”

“Do you think we could go back in and contact Manamo-chan again so she can help us call for help? the line has been cut at the main building” Kumi explained.

“Lights went out here too but we were able to talk to Manamo-chan for a while” Hina looked back at the tall, intimidating entrance to the library.

“Shit” Kyoko swore under her breath. “Did you manage to find anything out?” 

“That’s exactly what we need to talk to you about”


	10. Chapter 9: Hinano is not a Child! (or so she claims)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinano hates feeling useless, Miipan is hiding something and the Nurse Suzuka Saga(tm) begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys!  
> yes... I'm aware I forgot to upload a new chapter last week but I'll make it up to you guys by posting a double update!  
> Yay!

Hinano watched absentmindedly as Suzuka caressed a sleeping Konoka’s hair. Her eyes set on her senior’s fingers and the way they softly rearranged her bangs that were sticky due to the fever. Even while sleeping, Konoka wouldn’t stop shivering.

“I’m sure Kumi-san and the others will be back in no time,” Hinano assured her.

Suzuka nodded, not taking her sight off her friend.

“One of you!” Mirei yelled from the kitchen. “please come here to help me finish the food while I check Kono-chan’s bandages”

“I’ll go” Hinano stood up and left the room.

Truth was, she couldn’t bear to stay there anymore, just helplessly watching her groupmate’s condition worsen. She’d rather be of real help at the kitchen. As much as she could anyway, Mirei’s soup was almost done cooking, she just needed to watch over it and turn down the heat once it started boiling so it wouldn’t spill over.

It was still better than nothing.

She heard Mirei’s voice coming from the other room. While she couldn't make out what she was saying, she had an idea of what they were discussing. Suzuka had been begging Mirei to let her go to Konoka’s cabin to get her a change of clothes since she was still wearing her torn pants and bloody training shirt that was now also soaked with sweat. Mirei didn't want her going alone and she didn't want to leave Hinano and Konoka alone in the cabin to accompany her. If she were to be honest, she didn't understand why her seniors were being so overprotective of her. While they were in a different grade, she was only _months_ younger than Haruyo and Marii. Did she really seem that helpless to them? Konoka’s cabin was less than 100 meters away from her's, it was a very short walk. Hinano was sure she could handle Konoka for 15-30 minutes, she wasn't doing anything anyway, she was mostly just sleeping. Something told Hinano there was something their seniors weren't telling them, at least the Sasakis, she was sure they knew something else about what happened to Miku.

Hinano glanced over the counter and stared at the dead body lying on the floor, with just a blood-soaked blanket on top of it. She wished they had chosen to use a different cabin as their headquarters, but she guessed Mirei wanted to keep an eye on her for some reason. It was so strange to look at that move-less figure and know it was her Miku who had braided her hair just a few hours back. She touched one of her pigtails self consciously and felt her eyes welling up.

_Miku-san… I still can't believe this is real._

She took a deep breath, she didn't want to start crying right now. If Mirei saw her, she’d force her back into her room again and not let her come out, she needed to act mature and grown up about it.

_You can do this, Nano!_

Yes, she could do this.

She noticed the soup was bubbling a lot and turned down the heater. Feeling satisfied with herself, Hinano walked up to the room where the others were to inform them that the food was ready, she brought a bowl of soup for Konoka but set it aside to let it cool off. 

“I can feed her. Thank you, Hinano-chan” Suzuka smiled with honest gratitude. “Miipan-san, go ahead, I’ll stay here with Matsuda”

Mirei nodded and left the room with Hinano, closing the door behind her. 

Hinano and Mirei ate their dinner quietly.

“Will Kono-san be alright?” 

“It’s not looking too bad but we definitely need to get her to a hospital as soon as we can. I tightened the bandages as much as I could but honestly the stab wound's pretty deep”

“Have you thought about what Suzuka-senpai asked you?”

“About the change of clothes?”

Hinano nodded.

“Well it’s not a life or death situation but I guess I understand where Suzuka is coming from. Kono-chan is probably very uncomfortable right now and with the fever she’s having, I can assume wearing a short sleeved shirt and a pair of pants missing an entire leg is making her feel very cold”

“I could take care of Kono-san,” Hinano suggested. “or I could accompany Suzuka-senpai, the cabin is right next door”

Mirei thought about it for a second.

“I’m not a little kid, I want to be of use too” she protested.

“but if anything were to happen to you…” Mirei began.

“Suzuka-senpai wouldn’t allow that! you should trust her”

Mirei sighed. “Fine, tell Suzuka she can go but I want the two of you back in 10 minutes tops, you hear me?”

Hinano finished up her soup, thanked Mirei and rushed to the room where Konoka was staying. She knocked before entering, Suzuka replied that she could come in. She opened the door slowly, fearing she might wake up Konoka only to realize she was wide awake, sitting up with a wet towel on her head and swallowing carefully as Suzuka fed her.

“Senpai?” Hinano said and Suzuka hummed in response.

“Miipan-san said we could go get Konoka a change of clothes as long as we took less than 10 minutes” 

Suzuka breathed in. “Okay, let me just finish feeding Konoka, get the raincoats ready and bring a backpack so the clothes don't get wet”

“The key is in my backpack’s outer pocket, it should be in the living room” Konoka said weakly.

Hinano bowed and left the room, she heard Suzuka tell Konoka something as she left but their voices were too low so she couldn’t quite catch what was said. As she readied her backpack, she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Mirei staring blankly at her phone. With the current rain, there was no way she had any signal, so she wondered what she was looking at. Not wanting to upset her, she decided to not ask. Hinano sat on the couch with her back facing Miku, she envied everyone that was so caught up doing their own thing they forgot their friend’s corpse was right there in their living room, hopefully this could help her get her mind off of things.

“Ready to go, Nano-chan?” Suzuka’s voice snapped her out of her train of thought.

Hinano enthusiastically stood up and handed her senior the backpack. She was itching to get out of there, even if it was just for a few minutes.

“I want you here in 10 minutes,” Mirei yelled without taking her eyes off her phone.

Hinano and Suzuka nodded and put on their raincoats. Konoka, Miho and Nao’s cabin was relatively close. Hinano quietly counted 23 steps as she lightly splashed her feet in puddles. If Suzuka was annoyed by this, she showed no signs of it.

“I wonder how Miitan is doing...” Suzuka suddenly said, looking at the forest beyond the cabins.

“I’m sure Miipan-san is fine, she’s just worried about us” Hinano assured her. 

“Miho” Suzuka corrected her. “I’m talking about Miho. They’ve been gone for a while, I’m starting to get worried”

“Oh!” she sucked at nicknames. “Well Captain chose them because they’re the fastest, most athletic ones. I’m sure that even if they run into trouble, they’ll get away without much problem”

Though if she were to be honest, she didn't quite believe that herself.

They arrived at the 2nd gen-only cabin, it looked quite intimidating in the dark, but Suzuka walked in without thinking about it too much and Hinano had no option but to follow. The cabin was pretty similar to Kumi’s, but it was by far more orderly —and there was no dead body on the floor—.

“Grab a few water bottles from the fridge, I’ll get Konoka’s clothes”

Hinano opened the mini fridge and took out 4 water bottles. If they needed more, they could always go back, right?

“All done!” she called out. but there was no reply.

“Suzuka-senpai?”

_Something isn’t right._

She carefully walked towards the room Suzuka had gone to.

_Go back! run! run, Hinano, run!_

Ignoring her gut, she walked into the room. Sprawled on the floor was Suzuka, completely knocked out. Hinano carefully bent down and placed her hand in front of her face.

_Still breathing._

She carefully turned her around, she didn’t seem to have any injuries on her, it was weird for her to have blacked out like that. 

_Very strange._

Suddenly Suzuka opened her eyes.

“What happened?” She asked.

“I don’t know, I just found you here”

Suzuka got on her feet and picked up the clothes that had fallen on the floor and stuffed them into her backpack. “Let’s get going”

Hinano followed Suzuka back to the cabin, trying to ignore the fact that for some reason, her instincts were still telling her to run.

Before they arrived at the cabin, from afar, Hinano saw a figure running towards them, it was hard to tell in the dark but she seemed to be holding something. The person’s hair covered their face.

“Nao!” Hinano impulsively ran towards them. When she finally caught up to them, she noticed Nao was holding some sort of medical bag. She looked frightened to death and pulled Hinano’s arm so they’d hurry back into the cabin.

Once they walked in, Mirei stood up in shock.

“Nao, what happened? Where are the others? Why are you covered in blood?”

_Blood?_

Hinano turned to her friend only to realize her clothes and shoes were not only dirtied with mud and soaked in rainwater, but it also had faded bloodstains. 

“nurse… medicine… brain… Mikuni” Nao mumbled incoherently, looking at Hinano as if expecting her to translate but she was just as confused as Suzuka and Mirei were. Nao had always been a girl of few words but seeing her unable to form a complete sentence was concerning.

“Okay, let’s get your clothes dried up before you catch a cold” Mirei pushed her into Hinano’s room. “Hinano-chan lend her a change of clothes, I don’t want anyone going back outside. God, had we known, I would’ve asked Tomita to bring you something too they just returned from _your_ cabin”

Finally in her room, Hinano awkwardly handed Nao a long sleeved shirt and a pair of sweatpants but the girl just stared at the wall emptily. It was true Kosaka Nao was right in front of her, but something in her was gone. She wouldn’t talk and even after Hinano undressed her she just stood there, gazing down at the shirt on her hands. She left to bring her a towel for her hair and after she came back, she was still in her underwear.

Frustrated, the younger girl wrapped her in a blanket and sat her on the bed so she could dry her hair for her.

“Nao-san”

No reply.

“Are you okay?”

Nao shook her head wordlessly and tears started streaming down her face. Hinano crawled off the bed and kneeled in front of Nao, trying to meet her eyes.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it” she placed her hand on her lap reassuringly. “but please get dressed, i don't want you to catch a cold”

Hinano got on her feet and dusted her knees. “I’m gonna check if there’s soup left, I want you fully dressed by the time I come back!”

Hinano walked out of the room and into the kitchen. She peered into the large pot and while there was still some soup left, it was already cold so she turned on the stove while she went to check on how the others were doing. Konoka was lying in bed already wearing her pajamas while the other two went through the contents of the bag Nao had brought. They seemed busy so she decided to take care of Nao’s wet clothes herself, draping them from the backrest of the two chairs in the small dining table. 

She finally returned to see how Nao was doing and was relieved to see her fully dressed and sleeping on Hinano’s bed. She carefully placed the blanket over her but not without noticing her bruised, bleeding knuckles and the scratches on her ankles. Hinano swallowed hard. 

_Just what happened to you out there?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hinano is a good girl, a pure girl with a pure heart and pure intentions
> 
> edited: HOLY SHIT I SPOTTED A HUGE CONTINUITY ERROR THERE! thank god i noticed it just a few minutes after posting the new chapter and was able to edit it before anyone would read it.


	11. Chapter 10: Meindiana Jones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An entire 1,070 word chapter dedicated to Mei. There is no one else, only Mei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sekai ni wa Mei Shika Nai

Mei had no recollection of when they had all separated. Whether it had been before or after they managed to lose the crazy guy with the ax, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she ran. She ran and ran until she couldn’t run anymore, through the forest and back to the outdoor running field where she slipped on the synthetic grass and fell on her face. Her heart was pounding faster than ever and her mouth tasted like dirt and blood, she ran her tongue along her lower lip and winced once she found where she had busted it. Even though her brain was telling her to get up and keep on running, her body wouldn’t move so she just laid there, allowing the rain to make plopping sounds as it hit her torn raincoat.

_ I’m done. _

Mei didn’t know for how long she laid there. Maybe it was just mere seconds that felt like an eternity, maybe it had been half an hour but at some point she felt a pair of hands grab her by the shoulders and roll her face side up. Her eyelashes were heavy with mud and rainwater so she couldn’t recognize the figure in front of her and the loud rain drowned out the sound of their voice. The person shook her back into consciousness and tried to wipe her eyes only to blind her further.

“...have to carry…” 

That was all Mei managed to catch as the person lifted her and carried her bridal style to the indoor court where she was laid on the floor carefully and passed out again.

* * *

Mei woke up to the sound of raindrops hitting the tin ceiling of the basketball court, the mud had created a sort of crust around her eyelids which she lazily managed to scrape off. She sat up and licked her lips, unable to avoid grimacing as pain reminded her what had happened to her lip during the fall. The girl self-consciously touched her cheek lightly. Thankfully it seemed to be bruised but not scraped.

“So much for being an idol” she croaked to herself with a dry, painful laugh.

Suddenly remembering someone had carried her there, she looked around but saw no one, no signs of anyone but her staying there either, just a pair of dirty footprints leading back to the exit. She looked down at them carefully, trying to figure out who it could’ve been just from looking at it like they do in the movies.

_ It’s a footprint… _

That was as far as she got before giving up. Detective work wasn’t for Mei, that was for sure. 

Mei raised her head and analyzed her surroundings, she had never had the chance to check out the indoor court, it was their only second night on the island after all. If she remembered correctly, she heard from Nibu that Miho and Suzuka were gonna check it out and that’s how she knew it existed but she certainly hadn't imagined it would be this big.

She walked past the Volleyball and Basketball courts to a large stage at the edge of the building. It wasn't particularly high, the edge was around the height of Mei’s chin. She wondered if she could climb it if she tried.

Mei rested her hands on the edges and propped herself up with ease only for the wall to give in. She got to her feet and tried to put it back in place and managed to with ease as if it was meant to be moved. Filled with curiosity, she knocked gently on the wall and much to her surprise, it was hollow. Mei rested her weight on it again and it popped off like it had a few seconds ago. She pulled on it and removed the entire 1.5x1m wooden plank to reveal what looked like a small passageway.

It was at that moment that the two tiny Meis that lived inside her head started a tiny cage match in her brain, fighting for dominance.

“ _ go in, it might be important!” _

vs

_ “have you not watched horror movies? you’re gonna die” _

It was, as always, Big Mei’s role to choose which one to listen to. Curiosity killed the cat, but at the same time, she was most likely gonna die anyway, what was there to lose?

and so, Big Mei decided to listen to Tiny Mei #1 while Tiny Mei #2 yelled in protest. The tunnel seemed big enough for Mei to walk into with her head down but after a few meters it got smaller and she was forced to crawl.  It smelled like dust and dirt stuck to her wet clothes making her regret leaving her raincoat at the gym. Suddenly, the tunnel’s angle changed and she noticed she was now crawling down, but barely so, it was like that for about 100 meters until she finally found the end of the tunnel. 

She couldn't tell how deep the room was because of the darkness. She started patting her pockets looking for her phone. She thanked god that it had not fallen out and turned it on to check how much battery she had left.

_ Only 36%! and the screen is cracked too! _

She turned on the flashlight to the lowest intensity to avoid her battery running out and slowly moved it around, trying to understand her surroundings. The small cave (if that was the proper way of calling it) was about 5 meters wide with a depth of maybe 10 meters? it was larger than she expected.  She looked around and was surprised to see there wasn't much in it besides a desk, a small wooden bookcase with three rows and a very old looking bed. Upon closer look, the sheets were covered in dust, which meant no one had slept in it for a while.

“What  _ is  _ this place?” she muttered to herself.

She noticed a small kerosene lamp on the desk and tried to turn it on, the key was rusted but she managed to turn it a little. Nevertheless, it was useless if she didn't have a match to light it up. 

_ Maybe in one of the drawers… aha! _

She opened the first one and found a soggy box of matches, she tried turning them all one by one until one finally created a spark and she used it to carefully light it up like she had seen people in western movies do it. 

The light was dim and the key was stuck due to the rust but it was better than wasting away her phone’s battery. The handle was dirty and Mei knew her hand was gonna be dyed orange from all the rust but she didn’t have time to worry about it, she needed to figure out what was this place before anyone noticed she was gone. Maybe it’d help her understand what was going on. Her sight went back to the drawer where she had found the matches but it was basically empty, two loose pages with a few notes in a foreign language she did not recognize, a leaf-shaped letter opener and an old sepia toned picture. Mei pocketed the letter opener and lifted the picture to her face, holding up the lamp so she could observe its contents clearly.

The picture showed an older woman, definitely a local with a small girl that looked like her granddaughter. Based on their features, they were japanese so she assumed they must’ve been locals and the background of the picture seemed very familiar but Mei couldn't quite remember where she had seen that place, she was sure she had seen it on the island though. 

But what was this bunker doing under the gym?

She turned the picture around and saw a small text in very neat handwriting, nothing like what was on the papers now on top of the desk.

“ _ Grandma will protect you, trust no one _ ”

Mei furrowed her brows, does that mean it was the girl that was staying here? not the old woman? what did “trust no one” even mean? What was the girl doing alone in a bunker?

Mei placed the picture on the desk and bent down to open the second drawer. The rail was so rusty, Mei had to pull the handle with both her hands for it to finally give way. She wiped her palms on her shorts and took the lamp to illuminate the inside of the wooden drawer.

The first thing that caught her eye was a small book like the one Miku had shown everyone earlier at the cabin, this one was black though, not brown and it wasn't nearly as worn but the pages were significantly more yellowed. She tried to scroll through it and one of the pages cracked like a very thin rice cracker. Mei placed it on the desk and sat on the chair so she could scroll through it without breaking any more pages. She shone the lamp over the small book only to realize that not only was it handwritten as well —probably another journal— but this one was in Japanese.

Mei felt a strange tingle on the back of her neck as she bent down to try to read what it said, the phrasing was kinda outdated, showa era perhaps, but Mei could understand what it said.

The journal described the events that started in the 24th year of the Showa era when a few villagers started disappearing, a few years after the deaths of the family that were said to have been practicing witchcraft. She soon realized this hadn't belonged to the little girl that had probably taken shelter here but her grandmother. It was very detailed and explained all her findings and what was happening in the island at the time.

The final page with text was written hastily, as if the person was afraid someone would find them. Mei read it carefully, then again and again trying to understand what it was saying.

_ Wait a minute… this is it!  _

Mei stood up quickly. 

_ I gotta warn the others! _

“I was wondering where you had gone,” a voice said behind her and Mei’s heart stopped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun dun DUN!!! CLIFFHANGER!
> 
> Lmao S&F will not be happy when they see Mei's busted lip (but then again, they have a lawsuit from miku(ni)'s parents to worry about)
> 
> Tune in next week to find out how Mei's other half is doing


	12. Chapter 11: Back at Headquarters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a SECOND Ayaka POV chapter??? in this economy???
> 
> THIS ONE'S FOR YOU, TAKAHASHI!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, hello, i'm back. I had the busiest two weeks of my life, I'm sure some of you wondered if I had met the same fate as Miku. Unfortunately, I didn't so here I am doing what I do best: disappoint my readers. jk
> 
> so, without further ado, here's chapter 11...

Ayaka stumbled her way back to the villa. The heavy wind rendered her umbrella useless, but she still clung to it desperately as the heavy storm threatened to blow it away. She concentrated on her every step, trying hard to ignore her bloody hands and the memory of her junior bleeding out right in front of her. She watched the light coming from the main building go out which she found strange considering it couldn’t have been later than 9pm. She wasn’t sure though, as she had lost her phone somewhere along the way.

From afar, she saw a figure sitting next to the pool with a bright blue raincoat on her. The girl looked at her expectantly but the light left her eyes as soon as she noticed she came alone.

_Marii. That poor girl._

She approached her silently and sat next to her, for a second considering dipping her feet in the pool to wash away the blood. Marii rested her head on her shoulder and both of them stared at the moving pool water without exchanging a single word.

_I wonder if Nao made it back._

First thing she’d ask when she saw Ayaka would be the status of Mikuni’s wounds, Ayaka didn’t know if she had the heart to tell her, especially after Miku.

Her mind went back to the nurse, in retrospect, they never did find out why she had attacked them, Nao had cracked her skull before they could get any information out of her but it was very unlikely that she had killed Miku, right? There was no way she had sneaked into their cabin, turned the lights out, slit Miku’s throat, stabbed Konoka and ran back to the clinic all without getting wet, but if she didn’t kill Miku why was she trying to kill them?

Thinking about it gave Ayaka a mild headache.

She was so focused on her own thoughts, she hadn’t noticed Marii sobbing next to her. Of course! how could Ayaka be so selfish? making this all about her when her junior was suffering the loss of her friend. While polar opposites, those two were always together and she couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain she must’ve been in.

“I’m really sorry” Ayaka mumbled pathetically. “I’m a terrible senior, aren’t I?”

Marii bit her lip. “Takaha— Mikuni, she... she didn’t suffer right?”

“It was like going to sleep” Ayaka felt her chest well up again. “I’m really sorry, Marii-chan, I should’ve been more careful”

“There’s nothing we can do about it now, is there? there's no way to bring her back”

“If i knew, I would’ve done it already”

“W-we shouldn’t have left her out in the rain” Marii sobbed. “we should’ve taken her with us. At least then she wouldn’t be alone”

Ayaka sighed. “you know we couldn’t. I’ll personally accompany you in the morning to go fetch her, but that’s the most we can do”

_If her body isn’t all grossly decomposed by then, water rushes the process._

Ayaka leaned down to wash away the blood on her hands and got up to confront the others. She awkwardly tied her hair up in a heavy, wet ponytail knocked on the door.

“Come in!” Mirei’s voice called out and Ayaka excused herself as she entered, taking off her shoes at the entrance to avoid dirtying up the floor with mud. She spotted Mirei in the kitchen but she couldn’t see anyone else.

_They must be in the rooms._

Not even a full minute since Ayaka had walked in, Kumi came barging in along with Kyoko, Nibu, Haruyo, Hina and Manafi.

“Take off your shoes!” Mirei yelled, not even bothering to look up at whoever had walked in.

“Aya! Marii-chan” Kumi called out, “you’re back too! Where’s Kosaka and Mikuni-chan?”

“Nao-san is resting in my room” Hinano called out from Kikutoshi’s bedroom.

“I’m glad she made it” Ayaka sighed loudly, letting herself fall to the couch, relaxing for the first time in the past two hours. That was, until Kyoko asked the question she had been dreading.

“Aya, where 's Mikuni?”

Ayaka looked at red eyed Marii then at Kyoko, filled with shame.

“Aya?” Kumi’s voice cracked. “where is Mikuni?”

Ayaka remained quiet, as if expecting silence would answer the question. Haruyo looked at Marii, her usually cool expression was replaced with one of fear.

“We were attacked by the nurse, she stabbed Mikuni in the arm and… she pulled it out, there was nothing we could do”

Kumi clenched her jaw. “ _YOU HAD ONE JOB”_

“...two actually” Ayaka mumbled.

Before Kumi could choke her, Marii intervened. “Ayaka-san did everything she could’ve done, the nurse caught us by surprise, Takahashi she… she...”

The younger girl burst into tears and so did Haruyo next to her. Manafi escorted Marii and Haruyo upstairs.

“Where is this nurse now?” Manafi spoke out first, trying to clear the air.

“Kosaka… she handled it”

“As in…”

“She bashed her head in,” Ayaka replied guiltily.

“Pardon my french but Jesus _fucking_ christ, Ayaka” Mirei slapped her forehead and sat down on the nearest chair. “why would you let her do that?”

“Did you leave Takahashi out in the rain?” Manafi asked.

“I couldn’t carry her, she’s too heavy. I left her under a tree, I plan on going back for her before we get out of here” Ayaka said. “honestly, I don’t even understand why she attacked us. She offered to help us with Kono-chan and as soon as we were at the big hill behind the library, she turned on us and attacked Mikuni out of nowhere. Isn’t that weird?”

“It _is_ weird,” Kumi exhaled deeply. “Any chance she was the one that hurt Kanemura and Matsuda?”

Ayaka shook her head. “her hair was dry when we arrived, I don’t think she would’ve had the time to dry her hair and change into a fresh pair of clothes and considering the distance between the villa and the clinic, she’d have to have left before the clouds had even started to gather”

“I seriously don’t understand what’s going on,” Mirei groaned. “What's taking the others so long anyway? I thought we sent them cause they were the fastest ones. The cabins beyond the field are much closer than the clinic, they should be here with help by now”

“Let’s be patient and hope for the best”

There was a long pause again and part of Ayaka hoped the door would open again so she could see her remaining friends. She was worried sick, especially for Mei. What if she had gotten hurt?

Kumi explained to the other two what they had discovered: the main building wasn’t safe, the telephone lines had been cut and they had been chased around by a hotel staff with a katana until they had managed to hide in a janitor's closet and stayed there for almost an hour. Afterwards, they got out and went to the library to try to get Manamo to send for help. Sadly the same thing had happened there but not before Hina and Manafi had managed to contact Manamo who had told them what was going on was probably because of the journal. Manafi told them she’d go into detail about that and what she had found in the journal once everyone was back.

“I hate this” Kyoko muttered. “who are we missing?”

“Only the ones who went to search for the managers,” Mirei explained.

Kyoko crossed her arms. “So our 4 fastest runners are missing in action… are we even sure they’re still alive?”

“Let's hope they are. If they died, we don’t stand a chance either”

Kumi turned to Mirei. “What’s Kono-chan’s condition”

“She’s out with a fever. We gave her the antibiotics so hopefully the wound won’t fester but that thing needs stitches ASAP, she was lucky the knife didn’t puncture any important artery”

“The rain has gone down, maybe help _will_ come in the morning” Manafi suggested hopefully.

“Let’s hope”

_There’s no way any of us believe that._

“Okay, what’s our course of action, captain?”

Haruyo and Marii came out, still in tears with a dead eyed Nao followed by Suzuka. Manafi led them to the living room and sat down on the individual couch, motioning to them to follow suit. Kyoko and Ayaka also sat down on the floor while Kumi stayed up.

“As some of you may already know, we lost Mikuni-chan a while ago, she sacrificed herself so we could get supplies for Konoka...”

Ayaka’s eyes focused on Suzuka, her expression was uncharacteristically cold, unlike the rest of the girls that quietly shed tears for their friend and groupmate, Suzuka’s face showed no emotion. Ayaka thought it was odd considering she was usually a very emotional person. Nao wasn’t crying either but Nao rarely cried.

“we cannot allow anyone else to fall victim to this...whatever this is! which is why we have to organize various search parties to look for Ushio, Higashimura, Kato and Watanabe” Kumi’s voice was stern but at the same time motivational, it made Ayaka think ‘we can do this!’ although they were most likely all gonna die.

“We’re making three teams, one of them will cover the area north of the villa, another the entire villa and the third will cover the south —this includes the forest beyond the field where they originally went—.”

“I can stay here to take care of Konoka,” Suzuka offered. “I’ve seen Miipan-san do it, I’m pretty sure I won't need to do much anyway, just keep an eye on her and bring her food or something to drink”

“Fine. Tomita, you can stay with Matsuda” Kumi said. “As for the teams, I th—”

The door flew open, making Ayaka jump back in shock. Two figures entered the room in a hurry, one of them holding the other up.

_Miho and Sarina._

“Naccho!” Mirei ran towards them and hugged her friend.

“Help me put Miho down,” Sarina instructed.

Nibu, Hina and Hinano moved away from the couch so they could lay Miho down, her face was contorted with pain.

“She fell and twisted her ankle,” Sarina explained.

“It’s fine,” Miho assured them. “I just need to rest my leg!”

“Where were you? we were about to send out a search party!” Ayaka yelled. “Where's Mei?”

“and Shiho” Kyoko added.

“We don't know,” Miho admitted. “we got separated at the forest. All the managers are dead, the policemen too, I think the detective is behind all of this”

“That can't be possible, the detective arrived after the first body was found” Manafi protested.

_Not to mention the nurse that attacked us and the hotel staff that tried to kill Kyoko, Kumi, Haruyo and Nibu._

Something about this entire situation was very strange, it made no sense for the detective to go on a killing rampage, and why would he kill Miku? unless he wasn't the one that killed Miku. In fact the only people that could've killed Miku are…

_No! There's no way!_

“Do you have any idea where they could be?” Suzuka asked.

“They’re probably hiding somewhere, we need to go find them as soon as possible!” Miho said.

“Okay, Ayaka, you will lead the team searching north of the villa starting from the indoor courts all the way to the northern beach, you’ve been there before, I’m sure you know your way a bit better than the rest. Take Hina. Kyoko, you’re in charge of the villa, search every nook and cranny but be careful, don't interact with _anyone_ other than yourselves. Manafi and Nao will go with you”

Kyoko and Ayaka nodded.

“What about us?” Marii asked.

“Nibu, would you have a problem with taking them to your cabin and staying there with them? I don’t want them here with… Miku, but I also don’t want you three running around”

“No! I don’t want to stay cooped up!” Hinano protested. “please, Kumi-san, at least let me go with Hina-san and Ayaka-san”

Kumi looked at Ayaka. “would you be okay with this?”

Ayaka nodded. This was her chance to redeem herself. She wouldn't let Hinano down the way she let Mikuni down.

“Naccho, you will guide me and Miipan back to the forest. We’ll begin our search from the southern edge of the island and make our way back up to the villa”

_Of course the captain puts herself and two other 1st gens in the likely most dangerous path._

“You cannot get separated under any circumstances, if one of you is left behind the others will all go back to look for them. The rain has decreased so no umbrellas, if someone is really out on a rampage, it’ll be easier for them to spot you”

“and harder for you to run,” Miho added.

“Exactly. No flashlights or phones either unless you’re in a closed space, since there is no signal, we will meet here again in exactly one hour”

Everyone hummed in agreement.

“Okay let’s go then!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guilt is a terrible thing, but don't worry! Ayaka will redeem herself!


	13. Chapter 12: Do NOT Follow The Leader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hina is both very impressed and very unimpressed. The search for Meindiana Jones and ShihoTama continues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I do not hate Ayaka, I love Ayaka...
> 
> ... but there's a reason Kumi is our fearless leader and not her.

“Huh, is it just me or is there a huge hole in there?”

“It must be you—oh wait, you’re right!”

“Should we check it out, senpai?”

“That sounds like a terrible idea”

That was how it all began. As they passed by the indoor gym, Ayaka called out Mei’s name, heard no reply and concluded she wasn't there; Hina on the other hand, turned on her flashlight and found something they would've missed had they listened to their very questionable babysitter. Hina loved Ayaka to no end, she was the senior she was closest too and when it came to kindness, she was #1… but even Hinano would’ve made a more reliable leader. Ayaka seemed to be more focused on getting things over with rather than actually finding her friends—or any clues about what was going on, for that matter.

“Let’s go,” Hina told Hinano, forcing Ayaka to follow.

“Hey! I’m in charge of keeping you two safe and I don’t think it’s a good idea to—oh my god that’s a raincoat” Ayaka carefully lifted the dirty light blue raincoat from the floor, it was torn and muddy and Hina spotted a few bloodstains near the collar,

“Who do you think it belonged to?” Hinano asked.

_Who else would it be? We are the only ones with sky blue colored raincoats._

Ayaka shone a light to the floor and found small muddy footmarks leading to the hole below the stage. The footmarks were too small to be Katoshi’s and based on how torn the raincoat was, she must be injured. Ayaka slowly approached the entrance with a serious expression Hina had never seen before.

_She’s coming up with a plan._

“Should we go in, Senpai?” Hinano suggested restlessly, Hina couldn’t tell if she was nervous or just extremely curious to go in.

“Okay, I can’t keep watch if anyone is left behind and there’s strength in numbers” Ayaka thought out loud. “We’re gonna go in and look for Mei. Hina, you’ll go first; Hinano-chan, you’re gonna stand between Hina and I”

“What do we do if we encounter any sort of danger?”

Ayaka put down her backpack. “Hina, light please”

She zipped it open revealing a kitchen knife and a tennis racket, she handed Hina the racket and took the knife herself. Hina stared at the gleaming blade doubtfully, it wasn't as blunt as Kyoko’s infamous Re:Mind butter knife but it would basically only work for stabbing since the knife itself had no teeth. She assumed the racket was Ayaka’s, it was fairly light which meant getting hit by it would probably just throw someone off for a few seconds. Needless to say, she prayed they didn't need to use these “ _weapons_ ”.

“I forgot to bring you something, Hinano-chan, so you’ll have to stick close to us”

She thought it was smart of Ayaka to purposely not bring anything for Hinano, knowing she’d be the type to dive into a fight headfirst but it also left her defenseless if, for some reason, they weren't able to help her. A double edged blade.

“It’s alright, Senpai. I came prepared” Hinano reached for the inside of her own backpack and took out a pair of baby pink nunchucks.

“where did you get those?” Ayaka stared at Hinano wide eyed.

“I brought them from home!” Hinano said with a smile, obviously not seeing how crazy it was for a 15 year old idol to own nunchucks.

“Why the fuck do you own nunchucks and why did you bring them to a _TRAINING CAMP?!”_ Ayaka tried her best to remain calm but her quivering voice betrayed her.

“My dad signed me up for self defense lessons when I was little, I carry these around at all times!”

_So she had those in her bag during shootings and at live events?_

This was somehow more bizarre than the possibility of a satanist ghost family trying to kill them all.

“You seem worried, senpai, don’t worry I’ve gone through proper training and I’m a skilled nunchuck user”

Hinano made a quick demonstration, twirling her nunchucks from side to side and doing a few tricks so fast, Hina’s eyes weren't able to catch, but there was one thing she _could_ tell and that was that Hinano wasn’t joking around.

_If anything, she’s gonna protect US!_

“looks legit” Ayaka shrugged and just approached the entrance.

_She’s too shocked to even react!_

They got in formation and slowly started climbing through the tunnel, Hina illuminated the way while Ayaka made sure to look back every few minutes to make sure they weren't being followed. After about 15 minutes, they started hearing voices.

“...this about…”

It was a deep voice, most likely a man’s.

“...others, this is…”

Hina’s eyes went wide, that was Mei’s voice.

“...can’t let you go.”

Ayaka identified the voice as Mei’s and basically forced them to blindly charge ahead, which they did even if Hina was pretty sure they were gonna die. Finally, they saw the light at the end of the tunnel and Hina peeked in. Mei was sitting on the bed while a man dressed in the villa staff uniform was facing her. Although Mei was facing them, she didn't seem to see her poking her head out. Hina quietly got out, trying to make the least amount of sound as possible so the man wouldn't hear her, At that point Mei spotted her and her eyes went wide. The man turned around to see what caused it and before Hina could react he collapsed to the ground. Behind him, stood Hinano holding a small pair of pink nunchucks.

“You saved, Mei, Hinano-chan!” Ayaka patted her head and ran to her friend to hug her. “Are you alright? Did he hurt you? Where have you been? what happened?”

Mei hit Ayaka across the head. “Ayaka, you _idiot_! this guy saved me and now you killed him!”

“He’s not dead,” assured Hinano cheerfully.

“Who is he?”

“He’s one of the senior managers of the villa. The one with the funny moustache. He found me lying on the grass and took me to the gym, I accidentally found the tunnel and it led me to this bunker, when he noticed I was missing, he got worried followed me here and now he’s on the floor”

“but he said he couldn't let you leave!” Ayaka protested.

“because I was safer here in the bunker!” Mei explained. “This place was literally built to protect people from what’s going on right now”

“What _is_ going on?” Hina asked.

“You want the long version or the short version?” Mei asked.

“Short version for now, long when we reunite with the others?” Hinano suggested.

“Short version is that the old owners of the island haunt it and their ghost possess people to finish a ritual to steal their bodies permanently”

“Possess as in…”

“Yeah, all these murders have been done by the people on this island. There are supposedly 4 ghosts so 4 people will always be simultaneously possessed until only those four remain”

“They can move around bodies?” Hina asked.

“Seems like it, yeah. This bunker is designed for only one person because an isolated individual cannot be killed but also cannot kill so will not be possessed”

“And is there a way to like...exorcise them?”

“That’s what _he_ was telling me before you knocked him out. Apparently this has happened before in the past, that's why the island is inhabited, but when he heard it was being sold, he applied for a job here so he could avoid the ritual from being completed knowing these spirits would try to do it again”

_Well shit._

“Do we wait for him to wake up or…?”

“I guess so, yeah” Mei shrugged. “Help me put him on the bed, feels bad to leave him on the floor after he saved my life”

Hina took his feet while Ayaka bashfully pulled on his arms and Mei pushed the rest of his body up so they could prop him onto the bed. Needless to say, he was very heavy. She sat down on the bed next to the sleeping man while Ayaka rested her back on the wall and Hinano sat on the floor. They all let out a simultaneous sigh while Mei eyed them skeptically.

“What’s wrong? aren't you happy to see us?” Ayaka asked.

“I’m sorry I made everyone worry” Mei mumbled. “I’ll tell you guys everything once we’re all reunited”

“Speaking of which” Hina suddenly remembered. “We have less than an hour left to meet everyone at the meeting point. I wonder if this guy will wake up before that”

“What do we do if he doesn't?” Hinano asked.

Ayaka looked at Mei, as if telling her it was her call. They both looked so serious, it almost made Hina forget these two were dumb and dumber, almost. She took most of what Ayaka said with a grain of salt, same for Mei, but in times like these, they needed a solid leader figure she could trust. She needed to trust them.

“We gotta make sure he does,” Mei nodded to herself. “Aya, do you have a water bottle in your backpack?”

“Of course!” Ayaka reached down and pulled out a water bottle. “do I pour it on his face?”

Mei shook her head. “does that even work?”

“there’s only one way to find out”

* * *

“The chaos that follows whenever I listen to your advice never fails to surprise me, Aya” Mei put her hood up before stepping out into the rain.

Ayaka didn’t respond. She just stared at Mei and the children in front of her as if trying to make sense of what she had just heard. Considering ⅔ of it was only heard by Mei, Hina was extremely confused by what the man had just told them but Mei promised she’d explain it to them and make sense of it as soon as they were all reunited.

“Ayanee, are you coming?” Hina looked back at her senior with a worried expression.

“Mei. Why did the guy stay behind?” Ayaka absentmindedly asked while following the oldest girl’s lead, reaching out to grab Hinano’s hand with one hand and Hina’s with the other, which both of them took without protest. In a way, holding Ayaka’s hand gave Hina a strange sense of safety so she held onto it tightly, not caring how dirty Ayaka’s or her own hands were.

“He explained it to us, senpai, he said he would be in danger if he blew his cover” Hinano reminded her.

“I know that” Ayaka huffed. “but, it’s just _us_. If he managed to carry you all the way to the indoor gym, wouldn't he be able to walk all the way to the cabin without getting noticed by anyone else?”

“You still don't get it, Aya, do you?”

Ayaka frowned. “get what?”

“Once all of us are there, he’s not safe” Mei said cryptically.

“But that’s exactly wha—” Ayaka’s voice trailed off as soon as the sudden realization hit her. “Miku…”

Mei’s footsteps stopped as soon as she caught sight of the main building. “let’s drop the topic for now”

Hina bit her lip and squeezed Ayaka’s hand with both her hands, feeling heavy dread weigh her down more and more with every step she took. A question that had been chewing at her since the very beginning—no, not just her! she was sure _every one of them_ had a little voice in their head whispering to them what they already knew:

There was no way a third party got into the cabin, one of them killed Miku.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and with this, the Ayaka Character Arc™ comes to an end. I have no idea why she got her own arc, this fic is titled and then there was KONOKA not Ayaka. I blame Mao for graduating and me having to make Ayaka take responsibility for a bunch of CHILDREN. 
> 
> This literally wasn't planned at all, this was supposed to be a GGD fic, I hate you mao, I hate your boyfriend and your new OL lifestyle for ruining the continuity of my fic. Also because the Marii chapter was originally a Kyoko chapter and it had a really cute Kyonaya scene I also had to delete. Is this how tv show writers feel when their scenes get cut?
> 
> Anyway, It's actually titled And Then There was Konoka cause they're all panicking and dying and then there was Konoka, sleeping. 
> 
> (spoiler, sorta) She will actually wake up for like 5 seconds in the next chapter and then she will decide this life isn't worth being awake for and will sleep again
> 
> It's gonna be funny, i promise


	14. Chapter 13: Paranormal Activity VII

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miho and Suzuka Warren were American paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of hauntings. Miho was a self-taught and self-professed demonologist, author, and lecturer. Suzuka professed to be clairvoyant and a light trance medium who worked closely with her wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! long time no see! the craziest part about going a month without updates is when you realize the chapter already existed, i was just too lazy to update the fic. Anyway, I'm back. This chapter is ggd-centric which I'm sure a lot of you will appreciate. I remind you all to imagine the cabin as the apartment in icarly.

Miho watched everyone leave with a certain sense of anticipation. She desperately needed some rest, even if it was just for a few minutes. While part of her felt useless in her current state, another part of her was relieved she had an excuse to not go out again. The fear she had felt at that time was something she never wanted to experience again and it horrified her to think Katoshi and Mei were out there all alone. She hoped they were okay. It had been especially hard for her to wrap her mind around what had just happened. The detective seemed nice enough when he had interviewed her a few hours back, why did he go on a killing rampage out of nowhere? Why did the managers have to die? Why did Miku have to die?

Miho hadn’t been lying when she said all she needed was to rest her ankle. She had had this sort of minor injury before, all she needed to do was let it rest for a few hours and she’d be good to go.

“You’re worried about the others?” Suzuka came out of Konoka’s temporary room holding an empty plate.

Miho pursed her lips. In a way, she could say she got lucky Konoka got injured, it was what kept her two closest friends safe and sound. At least for the time being.

“What happened to your ankle?” Suzuka left the plate in the sink and approached Miho.

“Careful!” Miho winced.

Suzuka’s face lit up. “Give me a sec”

She came back with a large bandage and some tape, then checked the kitchen counter and took out the two wooden chopping boards of different sizes. Suzuka bent down next to Miho and carefully rolled up her training pants to expose her reddened, swollen ankle.

“No bruising,” Suzuka observed. “that’s good, that means it's not broken”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Miho pouted.

Suzuka chuckled. “I do not, but I believe in your strong, athlete bones”

The taller girl straightened Miho’s foot and placed the two boards on each side of her foot, quickly rolling the bandage around it a few times tightly so it’d stay in place. She proceeded to bandage her leg the way Mirei had taught her and after she was done, she secured it all with a small piece of duct tape.

“A makeshift splint! smart!”

“I’m your personal nurse tonight”

Miho smiled. “I can already feel myself getting better”

“you goof!” The taller girl smirked and softly hit Miho in the head.

Suzuka climbed on top of her, careful to not put any of her weight on her injured leg and laid there, playing with her hair, tucking a few loose strands behind her ear. Miho would usually be annoyed by this but she allowed it, it was Suzuka after all and she could never say no to Suzuka.

They locked eyes and she felt her heartbeat speed up.

_Typical Suzuka._

The younger girl perked up and placed a sweet peck on Miho’s lips which the older girl welcomed with closed eyes and a grin —as she always did—. Suzuka rested her head on Miho’s chest who was quick to wrap her arms around her.

There was a moment of silence. The only things that could be heard were the sound of their breathing, the light rain pit-a-patting on the cabin’s rooftop and Miho’s heart that threatened to burst out of her ribcage.

“I’m scared, Miho” Suzuka suddenly spoke. “That man... I still see him every time I close my eyes and although everyone’s trying to pretend its not there, Miku’s dead body is laying on the floor just a few meters away from us”

_I’m scared too._

But Miho couldn’t say that, she had to be strong. If she couldn't even keep her composure when it was her teammates that were risking their lives for her, she didn't know what she’d do if the moment came when she had to take charge. She needed to keep Suzuka and Konoka safe and she wasn't gonna let fear and a twisted ankle stop her. Her mind went to her leg that was going numb under Suzuka’s weight, she shuffled awkwardly, not wanting to tell the younger girl to move.

“We’ll be okay” she mumbled. “I’ll keep you safe, I promise”

Miho kissed Suzuka’s forehead as if to seal the pact and tried to sit up to help ease her leg but Suzuka was quick to catch her lips.

It felt so wrong to be doing this with Konoka sleeping in the room next door, unaware of what her two best friends were up to but she let herself get caught up in it anyway, _as she always did_.

She inhaled sharply through her nose, taking in the smell of Suzuka’s expensive perfume and tasting that fruity lip gloss she knew the other girl would never leave her house without.

“I love that perfume”

As always when it came to Suzuka, Miho spoke without thinking.

“I know you do”

It suddenly hit her that _she_ was most likely in desperate need of a shower. Her self-consciousness almost consumed her as she tried to force her brain into focusing on what was going on.

That was…

… until the wood creaked.

Miho pushed Suzuka off of her and lifted her head to see Konoka, in her pajamas, watching them with her mouth agape.

_Fuck._

“Kono—”

“I didn't see anything” Konoka limped back to her room. “I don't wanna know”

Suzuka stood up awkwardly. “I should probably go see what she needs”

Miho nodded red faced.

“Put a pillow under your leg, make sure to keep it elevated,” Suzuka instructed before following after their injured friend.

_How did I totally see this coming?_

Miho groaned as she twisted her body to reach down and pick up the pillow that had fallen to place it under her foot.

_I wonder what she’s gonna tell her, hopefully she really doesn't play dumb. Knowing Suzuka, she'll probably end up cracking under pressure and she'll tell her everything.  
_

She knew the right thing to do would be to properly explain to Konoka what was going on but if she were to be honest, she didn't quite understand what was happening herself.

Suzuka and her had always had a very confusing relationship. A few months back, she had come to the realization that she had strong feelings for her but she didn't act up on it because it seemed very out of character for her —she had only ever felt attraction to men before— also, she was an idol and they had a love ban (not that some of the older girls like Katoshi, Ayaka and Manamo cared about that). Suzuka’s behavior towards her turned odd and she thought that she was on to her so she confessed her feelings but promised she wouldn't make it weird. The other girl admitted to having similar feelings instead and that’s why she was trying to avoid her.

It was weird, it was dramatic, but it was also very _Suzuka_ which she loved.

She wasn't even sure if she could call Suzuka her girlfriend though. They went on dates, held hands and did other couple-like things but to everyone, they just seemed like really close friends and sometimes Miho thought that’s all they were too.

 _‘Kisstomos’_ as Katoshi would say.

Naturally they had to keep it on the down low, Manamo had gotten some lukewarm reactions from the older members when her secret twitter got leaked —even though it was significantly less scandalous than her's and Hina’s pictures with their ex-boyfriends—. She assumed that some of them weren't very open-minded which she understood (even if, as an athlete, she was no stranger to homosexuality) but even if they were, if the other girls knew about her relationship with Suzuka, they’d be more likely to get caught.

If she were to be honest, she never thought she’d ever end up being interested in a girl and even after Suzuka, there had never been another girl she’d ever seen and thought ‘I could date her’. When it came to Suzuka though, it didn't matter that she was a girl, she wanted to be with her forever.

She sat up and reached for her phone.

_Huh, it’s gone. I’m pretty sure I still had it when I was running._

She closed her eyes for a bit, feeling exhaustion finally sink in.

Something about Suzuka was strange but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe it was because of what had happened today, but she was worried about her. It made her happy to see her taking care of Konoka though, she was good at taking care of people, and her crazy antics would always put her in a good mood. That was Suzuka’s power.

Without even realizing it, she fell asleep thinking about Suzuka’s goofy smile.

* * *

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she was awoken by the sound of clapping thunder. It had started raining hard again.

_So much for getting saved._

She looked around groggily, searching for a clock until sudden realization almost gave her a heart attack.

_Shit! I fell asleep!_

She got up and quickly tested her ankle, it still ached but the splint and rest did wonders for it.

_The others should be arriving at any moment now. If only I could tell the time._

She walked to Konoka’s room to ask her for her phone only to find her asleep again. Her rhythmic breathing was the only sound heard inside the room, the eerie silence made her shiver.

“Suzuka?” she called out.

Her words saw no verbal reply until an object hit her across the head and she fell to the ground. Her ears rang, numbing all her other senses, but her blurry sight managed to catch sight of the perpetrator, or at least their leg. Miho clung to it in an attempt to get back on her feet but she was kicked aside by shoes that were a little too familiar to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the gleam of a small hunting knife in the perpetrator’s hand. Her head was too fuzzy to make out who it was but she recognized that hand, those fingers. The figure approached the bed where Konoka slept and it looked down on her like Miho had a few moments back.

“...I gave her just enough…”

Miho managed to catch a few words and realized the person was talking to her. Black and white spots began obstructing her sight.

_Fuck, I think I have a concussion._

Letting out a tired grunt, Miho managed to rest her body on her elbow, noticing small drops of blood hit the ground below her. The throbbing pain above her right eyebrow almost forced her back to the ground. She struggled to sit up as the figure approached Konoka.

“Where should I cut?” the voice taunted. “I can slit your throat but that would be all too ironic wouldn't it?”

Ignoring the painful feeling of betrayal on her chest, she called out the person’s name in an attempt to catch their attention.

“Suzuka, stop!”

The taller girl turned around, her expression changing for a split second before her eyes turned cold again.

_What is going on!? I need to stall her while I come up with a plan._

“Why are you doing this? Did you kill Miku?”

Suzuka's mouth twisted. “Well, I did... but I also didn’t”

_Huh? So did she or did she not?_

“Why are you trying to kill Konoka?” Miho asked again, slowly managing to get back on her feet.

“I guess you can call this unfinished business” Suzuka shrugged. “she should've died hours ago anyway”

“How can you say that about your best friend?” Miho felt anger well up. “The person that took you in when you were feeling left out, that always tries to understand you and show you kindness. You’ve been here taking care of her since the incident, was that just to get her alone so you could kill her?”

“Friendship? That means nothing to me” Suzuka cackled as she angled the knife to Konoka’s throat.

Miho frowned. “You’re not Suzuka.”

Suzuka’s hand stopped, she turned to Miho with an unrecognizable expression. “and what makes you say that?”

“The real Suzuka would never say something so dismissive about her friends, especially not Konoka” Miho carefully approached her and wrapped her fingers around the younger girl's grip on the knife and slowly removed it from her hand. “who are you?”

“I’m Suzuka, 19 years old, born and raised in Kanagawa, member of idol group Hinatazaka46’s 2nd generation”

Miho bit her lip. “and who am I?”

“You’re Watanabe Miho, 20 years old, joined through the same audition as Suzu—I mean, me”

She grinned, noticing that slip of the tongue. It suddenly hit her what had seemed off from the beginning, this person called her Miho even though Suzuka never called her by her name when they were on their own.

_Okay so this person isn't Suzuka but she clearly looks like Suzuka. Why does she look like Suzuka? Where’s the real Suzuka?_

“If you’re really Suzuka, tell me your full name” Miho had found it odd that she didn't mention it at all considering she did say Miho’s full name. She couldn't quite explain why it stood out to her though.

Suzuka rolled her eyes. “This is ridiculous. I have nothing to prove to you”

_An opening!_

Miho quickly leaped over Suzuka, pinning her to the ground. She placed the hunting knife to her throat, being careful to not cut her in case that really was Suzuka playing some sort of sick joke, but close enough to prevent her from moving.

“Say it!” Miho pushed.

Suzuka blew air through her teeth. “You win.”

_huh?_

“Well this was fun while it lasted, we’ll meet again Watanabe Miho—you’re a great kisser by the way” Miho angrily pressed the knife further feeling not only embarrassment but betrayal too. “you better loosen your grip or this will soon turn ugly for Tomita Suzuka”

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Suzuka passed out. Miho jumped back, pulling her knife away to avoid any accidents.

_What the fuck?_

Miho slowly backed down, placing the knife down on top of the drawers. Her friend wasn't moving. Konoka shifted in her sleep making Miho sigh with relief.

_At least she missed the whole thing._

She approached Suzuka carefully, considering tying her down just in case but she seemed to be out cold. She turned her around to put her hand over her nose to check if she was breathing. Her face seemed to be wet.

_Sweat?_

She got up to search for Konoka’s phone and used it as a flashlight to shine a light on Suzuka’s face.

_Shit._

Even though she had managed to remove the knife just in time to avoid any serious damage, there was a long gash at the edge of her jaw, not deep enough to cause any severe bleeding but it was pretty big.

She stood up to get something to clean her up when the entire situation just hit her.

_Did she just get possessed?_

She heard movement behind her and she hid the knife in the drawer, just in case. She quickly moistened a towel and returned to find Suzuka lying still on the ground. Reaching out her hand, Miho turned the lights on to find her staring at the ceiling blankly.

Suzuka shifted slowly. “Miitan?”

Miho smiled and rushed towards the girl, placing her head on her lap. She felt a sudden urge to kiss her but suppressed it when she remembered what had just happened.

“Don’t move, this is gonna sting a little,” Miho instructed as she tilted her head back and gently dabbed on the wound. She could see Suzuka was trying her best not to cry out in pain.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Suzuka said through gritted teeth. “What cabin is this anyway? all I remember was going to your cabin to get Konoka a change of clothes and now I’m lying on the ground and _you’re_ here”

“Yeah a lot has happened. We’re not in my cabin, though, this is Kumi-san’s cabin” She pointed at a sleeping Konoka.

“huh, did you carry me here? how did you find me? what happened out there? where are the others?”

“Woah! too many questions” Miho chuckled, putting the towel aside. “First of all, I did not carry you, you were already here when I arrived, that answers the second question. A lot of stuff happened to me out there but I’m fine, the others went out to look for Shiho-san and Meimei-san who are still missing. We got separated”

Miho chose not to tell her about what she saw, she didn’t want to worry Suzuka any further especially after what she was about to say.

“As for you... “ Miho paused to search for the right words. “I think you got possessed”

“ _Possessed?!_ That’s not possible! What do you mean possessed? Like by a ghost!?”

Miho nodded.

“There’s no way you actually believe that” Suzuka sat up.

Suzuka was right. Under normal circumstances, there was no way she would believe that but somehow, that was the only logical explanation. Miho explained everything that had happened since she arrived at the cabin, omitting the small detail about Konoka catching them. That was a problem for later.

“Well shit! the way you put it, I guess I _was_ possessed”

“Yeah”

“Wow that’s creepy. I’m glad I— or whatever ghost invaded my body didn’t cause any serious harm” She leaned forward and kissed Miho’s cheek. “Thank you”

Miho hugged Suzuka tightly as she attempted to wrap her mind around what just happened. If Suzuka had gotten possessed so easily, did that explain why the detective was acting like that? had he been possessed too? and the nurse lady that killed Mikuni… were they all possessed? If that’s who they were after, did that mean any of the other members could be possessed too? no! if anything, it was a fact another one of them was possessed too. All this time, they had been wondering how someone could’ve gotten in and out of the cabin during the lights out without considering that the killer had most likely been one of them all along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you thought Konoka's day couldn't get any worse, you were WRONG.


	15. Chapter 14: Are Psychics the Ones That See the Future?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Life is hard when you're *this* good looking" -Kato Shiho

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I just think she's neat" me about katoshi

Kato Shiho carefully scoped the perimeter. She had been hiding in the tennis field for at least an hour now, but she was too afraid to leave, knowing full well that, on her own, if anyone —or anything— spotted her, she’d be done for. Her phone was soaking wet, so she didn't dare turn it on, afraid it would short circuit, so all she did was keep watch for someone to come.

Boredom eventually consumed Katoshi and she started to develop strategies to convince herself to get moving again, she told herself that she could hide her movement in the heavy rain and that whoever had been chasing after them was probably far away by now but her legs just wouldn't move. She was shivering from the cold; her clothes were soggy and at some point, your raincoat stops being a raincoat and becomes a waterslide leading to your face. She had lost her umbrella on the run and maybe it was for the best, those things were very noticeable. Her mind wandered off to all the bizarre scenes she had witnessed that day, from watching men in lab coats escort a man’s remains away to Miku’s lifeless white face on her own cabin’s floor and the dead bodies of their managers that had taken care of them for so long and were the adults there were supposed to rely on in this terrifying situation. The police were dead too and the detective had killed them all. Why had the detective killed them all? was he in on it all along? It didn't make any sense. Ever since she arrived at the island, she knew something was wrong but Kumi refused to see it. As captain, she needed to remain level-headed, _that_ she understood, but sometimes you need to ignore your brain and trust your gut.

But realistically speaking, she couldn't blame her, she always did the most to protect everyone and she must be feeling terrible about what happened to Miku.

_Kiku-chan…_

The thought of her friend made her chest swell up.

_I can't let myself die here, I need to get to the cabin, I need to warn the others._

Katoshi felt her legs start to move, taking small and shaky steps but finally she was able to walk. She looked around and searched for the entrance closest to the center of the villa and walked towards it with a new goal in mind.

_I will leave this place; I will make it out of here alive and I refuse to leave without her._

She reached the door and looked around carefully, as if she’d be able to see anyone coming with this dark night sky and heavy rain. The pool was about 500m away, after reaching it, she was basically safe, it was an illuminated place and it could be seen from all the cabins and the main building. Running was out of question with the slippery road below her feet, but she quickened her pace as much as she could, knowing time was of the essence.

“Someone’s there!”

The loud voice made Katoshi stop in her tracks. She hid behind a large pillar, hoping she wasn't seen. She looked around frantically trying to spot the source of the voice to no avail.

“Don't yell, idiot!”

Katoshi frowned, that deep voice sounded familiar. Ignoring her brain that was telling her to stay there, she got out of hiding and ran towards the voice.

“It's Kato!”

She saw them, three people standing by the hut near the pool. Her feet didn't stop moving until they were right in front of her, she just needed to take one final step...and then her foot slipped. She came crashing down on top of one of the smaller girls and both fell on the grass. Even in the dim light, she could recognize that scowl anywhere.

“Kyoko!”

“Shi...ho” Kyoko avoided her gaze.

“Are you alright?” another voice said. _Manafi._

Someone turned on their phone’s flashlight and for the first time she was able to see the people that had found her. Manafi and Nao stared down at her while Kyoko was trapped between her arms.

“Oh my, are you blushing, Kyonko?”

“Shut up, I was taken off guard” Kyoko defended herself from Manafi’s usual taunting but Katoshi noticed she still refused to look at her.

“I’m glad you’re alright” Manafi smiled and helped Katoshi get up.

“I’m fine, but there’s a lot of things I have to tell you, the manager—”

“Miho and Sarina already told us everything,” Kyoko explained. “we sent search parties to look for Mei and... well, you”

“Is Mei still missing?”

“Yeah, everyone else made it back to the meeting point,” Manafi explained. “We still need to look for Meimei, so I guess you’ll be joining our party. We’ll explain everything on the way”

As they walked, Manafi told Katoshi all the recent developments and what they had found out so far including what Manamo had said to them. Katoshi felt a knot in her throat when Kyoko told her what happened to Mikuni, but the adrenaline rush was so strong she couldn't muster a single tear; or maybe she did but with the heavy rain, who could tell? She noticed a lot of them were acting weird, Nao tailed behind them quietly —more so than usual— and of course there was Kyoko who seemed to be avoiding her for some reason, Manafi on the other side was being her usual evil self. She slowly made her way towards her friend who seemed to be distancing herself from her and leaned close to her ear.

“Kyoko, is anything wrong?”

Kyoko jumped back. “Don't do that!”

“Guys, stop playing around”

“I wasn’t—” Kyoko tried to defend herself but ended up just slapping her face in frustration and continued walking.

“Why do I feel like you’re avoiding me, though?”

“I am not! let’s just focus on finding Mei, please!”

_Strange._

Kyoko kept walking on her own while Katoshi fell behind to match speed with Manafi who was looking around carefully, making sure they weren’t being followed.

“Is something wrong with Kyoko?” Katoshi asked.

“Well we’re on a haunted island getting killed off one by—”

“Besides that,” Katoshi interrupted her. Maybe she was just imagining things, but Kyoko seemed to be avoiding Katoshi specifically, it was like she didn’t even want to look at her. Did she do something wrong?

They reached the small square buildings where the practice rooms were but Katoshi’s sight was set on the tennis field a few meters away. Just half an hour ago, she really thought she was a goner but now that she was with more people, she felt a certain sense of security, like she could really make it out of here alive. Kyoko and Manafi debated whether to enter the huts or not but before they could agree on anything, Nao went in on her own. The practice rooms were empty, Katoshi called out Mei’s name a few times while Nao looked around quietly. Things seemed to be relatively peaceful inside the villa, nothing like out in the forest. The rain had decreased to a light drizzle so it couldn’t be heard anymore unless you paid close attention to it so all that could be heard were the girls’ wet steps on the wooden floor and Katoshi wondered what would happen in the morning. Even if the instructors were okay, she doubted they’d be willing to give a class after tonight’s massacre, they’d probably be on the first boat back to Yamaguchi, if there was even going to be a boat coming for them in the first place, she assumed Kumi had been unsuccessful at contacting the outside since Manafi hadn’t mentioned anything about it.

They walked outside and wondered where to go next. The only place left apparently was the outdoor field and the library which Manafi seemed reluctant to return to. Katoshi doubted they’d be able to find Mei in the outdoor field considering she’d be in plain sight but Manafi pointed out that it was on their way to the library anyway and they’d best check it out as well.

“Wait! What about the gymnasium?” Katoshi spotted the tall building from afar.

“North team’s covering it, I think”

The North team consisted of Ayaka, Hina and Hinano. Not a very trustworthy team, in Katoshi’s opinion but all of them were athletic enough, even Hinano could be quite fast whenever she wasn’t fooling around. She had seriously wanted to check it out because the second floor had an arcade, but she hadn’t had the chance on the first day and she figured she wouldn’t either from now on.

As expected, the outdoor field seemed to be empty. The group made their way to the library while Manafi told Katoshi about Hina’s computer skills in the lowest voice she could muster. She knew they weren’t supposed to make any noise, but Katoshi knew she’d go crazy if she was forced to be alone with her thoughts for another minute. To keep her sanity, she needed to be able to act like nothing was going on even though there was a lot going on and she was scared shitless for herself, but also for her friends. Especially Sarina, Kumi and Miipan who were going back to the forest. She admired Sarina for having the bravery to go back and lead them, Katoshi didn’t think she would’ve.

_They’re doing this for me… and Meimei._

Katoshi was never gonna be able to forgive herself if anything happened to any of them while they were looking for her, especially Sarina who knew what she was facing but went anyway. Though she didn’t even want to think about it, were Kumi’s life at stake, she would’ve fought the fucking detective head on, so it made her feel relieved (but also concerned) that Kumi was just as willing to risk her life for her.

“...her entire personality changed though” Manafi’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Yeah, she goes out of character like that sometimes” she scratched the nape of her neck. “It’s kind of weird but she really is a secret genius, when my phone got stolen, she hacked it from our family computer to track it down and delete all my data”

“That’s just Find My Iphone” Kyoko deadpanned.

“Maybe so! but I didn’t know I could use it for that until she helped me out so she’s still a genius!”

“What did you think an app called find-my-iphone did? daily crossword puzzles!?”

“Lower your volume.” Kyoko warned. “who are you talking about?”

“Kawata who acted all cold and distant towards me when we contacted Manamo”

“She was probably just distraught because of Kanemura, though,” Kyoko thought out loud.

Everyone nodded silently.

Katoshi couldn’t blame any of the parties, they did what they thought was right at the time but it was horrible that things ended that way for Miku, a part of her still saw all of this as a nightmare she had yet to wake up from. It wasn’t, though. This was real and people were losing their lives over it and the entire situation was so confusing it made Katoshi’s head hurt, especially if it was really tied to the supernatural like Manamo proposed.

“We’re here,” Manafi announced.

Katoshi looked up at the imposing library in front of them. The day prior, it hadn’t looked intimidating at all but in this hour and weather, it seemed almost like a haunted house looking down at them malevolently as if warning them of what’s to come if they dared enter its doors. Katoshi swallowed hard as she took the lead and led the group inside. The library was dark. Nibu tried the light switch but, just as Manafi had told them, the lights weren’t working. Apparently, the electricity had gone out while Hina and Manafi were still inside. They used their phone’s lights to look around, dividing into two groups: Manafi/Nao and Katoshi/Kyoko.

“Doesn’t seem like Mei’s here” Kyoko said with an abnormally deep voice (even for her).

“I think we should still look around”

Kyoko glared at her which Katoshi took as a good sign and she looped her arm around her’s. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

The shorter girl faced the opposite way and loosened herself from Katoshi’s grip.

Katoshi leaned closer, trying to meet her eyes. “Kyoko?”

Kyoko cleared her throat. “Since we’re here, there’s something I want to check out” 

_This is the most I’ve gotten out of her all night._

She followed Kyoko, who moved the books around frantically.

“What are you doing?” Katoshi asked.

“If I told you, you’d think I’m insane”

Katoshi frowned and walked towards her, placing her hands in her shoulders to calm her down, but Kyoko shook her shoulder, forcing the other girl to remove her hand. Kyoko has never been the clingy type, but it was odd of her to react like this to any form of physical contact. She watched her friend reach for the bottom corner and then stop.

“Holy shit” she whispered almost inaudibly.

“What is it?” Katoshi asked.

Kyoko got up and lifted a large brown leather binder with a crazy look on her face. She ran past her and put it down on the nearest table, opening it carefully to see its contents only to let out a hysterical laugh as if she had known what she would find. It caught the attention of Manafi and Nao across the room who quickly joined them, as Kyoko rifled through the pages incredulously.

“Are those pictures?” Manafi asked.

“It’s a binder containing all of the family’s official files, the head of the family hid it before he was killed”

Katoshi raised her eyebrows “and how did you know that?”

Kyoko remained quiet for a second, as if considering her words before finally revealing the truth to them: she had seen it in a dream.

She explained to them how when she fell asleep as they waited for the crazy hatchet man to leave, she had a dream in which Manamo had told her to go to the library and find this specific book that was just where she had seen it in the dream. Everyone was astonished, it sounded ridiculous but how could they deny Kyoko’s claims when the evidence was right there. Every minute, the supernatural element of this nightmare seemed more and more plausible.

“What else did you see in your dream?” Manafi asked. “tell us everything word by word, there could be some hidden message”

Kyoko looked at Katoshi and bit her lip.

_What?_

“I was just here under Miyata’s orders and found the binder that contained exactly what I found here”

“Anything else happen afterwards? was anyone with you in the dream?”

Kyoko shook her head furiously. “Why would anyone be in it?! It was just that! nothing else happened!”

_Something else definitely happened!_

Katoshi’s inner tsukkomi was on a roll with all of Kyoko’s questionable actions this past hour. She shook her head and decided to ask her about it later when they were alone.

They walked back to the meeting point (her cabin) feeling a strange sense of accomplishment, they had found one of the missing people and a new clue that would help them figure out what the hell was happening. Hope radiated from them, snuffing out the despair that surrounded everything else as the rain turned violent again. They were close, Katoshi could feel it and in horror movies, finding out the source of the haunting was the key to stopping it. If they weren’t gonna be able to leave the island until the day after tomorrow, they might as well remain on the island safely. She only hoped the other two groups were feeling the same way. They made their way back to the pool. Manafi ran to the cabin with Nao. Kyoko was about to follow them until Katoshi stopped her. If she wanted to find out what was wrong with Kyoko, this was her only chance. If the girl was withholding important information, it would reduce their chances at survival.

“Kyoko, we need to talk”

“There’s nothing to talk about. What do you mean we need to talk?”

“You’ve been acting weird around me and at the library you freaked on me for no reason. What’s going on? is it related to your dream? did I try to kill you in it or something?”

Kyoko stepped back. “I-It has nothing to do with you”

The way Kyoko spoke was forceful but looking at her face, she didn’t seem angry at all. If anything, the expression on her face was something she had seen on herself too many times to count: it was guilt.

“Did _you_ kill me in the dream?” Katoshi’s voice was low. “am I going to die?”

“No, nothing of that sort! it’s not important!”

Katoshi let out a deep sigh and sat on the ground, next to the pool. Part of her seriously considered dipping her feet in since she was wet already but she decided against it knowing she’d be too grossed out to put her wet socks back on if she took them off. She looked up at Kyoko who reluctantly sat down next to her, still avoiding eye contact with her.

“If it’s bothering you this much, then it _is_ important to me, Kyoko” Katoshi leaned her head back feeling the heavy raindrops hit her eyelids.

Kyoko balled up, holding her knees close to her chest. She looked so small and helpless, it reminded Katoshi of a scared child who had lost sight of her parents at the supermarket. Instinctively, she reached out and attempted to straighten her friend’s sodden bangs but it ended up resembling a gigantic widow’s peak instead. She tried to suppress a giggle while brushing them to a side. For the first time since she had found her, Kyoko cracked a smile which quickly faded as soon as she caught sight of Katoshi.

_Did I do anything wrong?_

“Realistically speaking, how high are the chances of us getting out of here?” Kyoko finally spoke.

Katoshi shrugged. “What type of answer do you want?”

“I want to know what you _really_ think, I know putting up an optimistic facade is a key part of survival but just for a second, I need a second opinion. Everyone keeps saying we’ll all make it out of here but we said the same thing when we set out the first time” Kyoko looked up, probably trying not to cry. “...who’s to say the other two teams that went to the more dangerous locations didn’t have any losses”

Katoshi’s smile dropped and her brain went numb once reality finally hit her.

“We’re not all making it back, are we?” Kyoko’s voice cracked. “some of us might, but if they killed Kanemura and Takahashi with ease, they’ll kill us too”

“You know I’m a total pessimist, Kyoko, if you want me to make you feel assured of our survival, you can’t ask for my genuine thoughts” Katoshi whispered. “That’s not fair to me”

“You think we’re all going to die, don’t you?”

Hearing Kyoko say it made it seem all too real and all Katoshi could do was nod pathetically.

“I wanna have hope, though, even if these thoughts try to poison my mind, I will keep looking forward. We have to keep moving forward and believe that we _will_ survive”

“Wow Kumi has sure rubbed off on you” Kyoko wrinkled her nose.

“She’s my best friend after all…” Katoshi laughed. “but you’re my partner, right? let’s have hope that we’ll get out of here! I hope I can rub that off on you and maybe then, I’ll truly believe it”

“Say” Kyoko began, “If we’re really going to die here, is there anything you regret not doing?”

“You mean besides living past my early 20s?”

“I’m being serious!” Kyoko frowned. “Isn’t there anything you think you might as well do since you’re going to die anyway?”

“What? you mean like skinny dipping?”

“Shiho”

“I’m joking, I’m sorry!” She thought about it for a bit. “hmm, well I guess I do regret not living more freely. I’ve been so self-conscious of my face and figure for so long I don’t even remember what it was like to just… not give a fuck”

Kyoko stared down at their reflection in the pool. “I wish you had more confidence in yourself. You’re pretty, funny, and good at a lot of different things”

“I can’t help it,” she admitted. “What about you, though? what’s something you wish you could do or had done?”

“That’s a horrible thing to say coming from you”

“Huh, why me?” Katoshi gritted her teeth. “you started this, now fess up”

There was a long pause, as if Kyoko was pondering over what she was going to say and how she was going to say it.

“Shiho, have you ever… kissed a girl?”

Katoshi frowned. That was a very strange question coming from Kyoko who had always been sort of close-minded about those things.

“I did once, one of my friends, but it was a dare and it lasted like 3 seconds so I’m not sure it really counts” She confessed. “you?”

Kyoko shook her head.

Katoshi narrowed her eyes. “...and was that something you regret not trying?”

Kyoko bit her lip. “and how did it feel?”

“Well, if felt like a regular peck, I didn’t think about it too much to be honest, it wasn’t even a serious kiss”

_This conversation is stupid._

“I’m assuming the point of this conversation is just you asking me if I can let you try it with me since we’re going to die anyway”

Kyoko shook her head frantically. “I was just thinking out loud and got curious if you had any experience on the subject”

“Well I do have enough experience to tell you it’s not that big of a deal, I guess. It’s just kissing”

 _Funny._ Katoshi watched Kyoko stare at her feet in silence, probably over-thinking the entire thing the way Kyoko usually did. She rolled her eyes and cocked her head forward.

“If you wanna try it, now’s your chance”

“Huh, I never said—”

“Just do it” Katoshi frowned. “It’s getting cold and I wanna go back inside. Just don’t get too excited, if I feel you trying to slip your tongue down my throat, I’m chomping it off”

She closed her eyes and heard Kyoko gulp hard. She waited for a few more seconds until she finally felt the other girl delicately press her lips against hers. Katoshi kissed back softly and then pulled away.

“See? not a big deal” but, clearly, it had been a big deal to Kyoko who had turned beet red and was staring at the ground, wide-eyed. Katoshi stood up and leant Kyoko a hand.

“Now let’s go inside, I’ll lend you a fresh pair of clothes”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like how Nao didnt say a single word in the entire chapter. Almost made me forget she was there (god, that's so in-character)
> 
> With this the "saito kyoko gay panic" arc comes to an end. It was short lived, but amusing, if you thought Katoshi would reciprocate Kyoko's feelings well... I'm sorry. I thought it would've been odd to have them get together when the only duo that radiates more heterosexual, never-gonna-happen power is naomiku.
> 
> Yes, I know that's very hypocritical of me considering last chapter had girls kissing AND ghosts.
> 
> btw don't expect any more kissing for the rest of the fic, lmao. this is the END of kissing scenes. NO KISSING in the Future.
> 
> I need to make one of those antm/dgr2 edits next time someone dies. Wouldn't that be hilarious? 
> 
> Also, am I the only one TRAUMATIZED by kyoko's mizugi debut yesterday? top 10 things I never wanted to see. As a woman, I can't help thinking about how the angle is not ideal for her body type (pear shaped with short legs) but also how no person in their right mind would wear a white swimsuit. The swimsuit isn't even that cute, i've seen cuter swimsuits at target, not even joking.
> 
> Speaking of traumatized, next chapter is pretty dark so come prepared. I was so shocked with myself after I was done writing it, I almost deleted the entire document from my drafts.


	16. Chapter 15: The Forest Where The Trees Cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The south scouting team chapter we were all dreading.
> 
> cw//: slight gore and other bodily fluids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! First of all, I want to apologize for the long time between updates. I was busy early December and then I just lost track of time, then I forgot my account password but here we are now. Honestly, I was planning on dropping it but reading some of the comments you guys left made me really happy so I've decided I'm gonna see this series 'till the end and I hope you all stay with me for the remaining chapters.

As she crossed the muddy terrain and tall trees, all Sasaki Mirei could think about was how much she did not want to die. A part of her prayed they’d find the girls on the outdoor field and would have no need to go further but considering they most likely wouldn’t, she agreed with Kumi  _ someone _ had to go make sure they weren’t there. She just wished it hadn’t been her Kumi chose. Having people as reliable as Kumi and Sarina at her side was comforting, but not having to go would’ve been even better. 

The plan was simple, search through the woods without going further from the campside which they would try to avoid, make as little noise as possible and obviously, stick together. Common sense indicated that the culprit would be less likely to strike the more people there were.

_ But common sense also indicates we should NOT go back into those woods. _

She didn’t question Kumi’s plan though, not necessarily out of trust that the plan wouldn’t get them killed but because her years by Kumi’s side allowed her to read their captain well enough to know she had an ulterior motive to risk their lives like that. If Mirei’s intuition didn’t fail her (and it often did), she had to assume she was lying and Kumi actually wanted an excuse to go back to the camping site. Whether she wanted to see it for herself, find any survivors or something else she wasn’t aware of, Mirei didn’t know, but Kumi clearly knew what she was doing and she trusted her enough to go along with whatever she was planning.

Hopefully it wouldn’t get the three of them killed in the process, though.

Mirei and Kumi stood on opposite sides as Sarina led the way towards the campsite, keeping an eye out for what was in front of them while Kumi inspected the right side and Mirei was in charge of the left. It suddenly hit Mirei that no one was in charge of making sure they weren't being followed but ignorance is bliss and she never mustered the bravery to look over her shoulder.  Considering they weren't allowed to talk, Mirei would often have to focus on her surroundings to prevent herself from getting lost in thought. The reality of the situation was that it was almost impossible to find anyone without making any noise, which to Mirei basically confirmed her suspicions that Kumi never intended to look for anyone to begin with. She wondered if Sarina thought so too or if she was blindly following Kumi’s lead.

Finally after maybe 20 minutes of walking, Sarina came to a halt. She pointed at the dim light through the trees, around 300 meters away and turned to Kumi who nodded.

“We’ll circle the perimeter, eyes on the campsite” Kumi whispered, trying to keep the talking to a minimum. Mirei and Sarina nodded, it wasn't like they had the luxury to argue against her in this situation.

They walked in a straight line: Sarina in front, then Mirei and Kumi behind her, keeping a safe distance between each other. 

Mirei skeptically watched the large bonfire’s flames dance every time raindrops dripped down from the large pine trees above them. The fire must've been at least twice her size and it was surrounded by two rows of cabins circling around it. Because of the large shadows they would most likely cast, she understood why Kumi told them to remain in the woods. Mirei hoped they’d, at least, help them find out if there was anyone around.

She felt a a strange tingle on the back of her neck, as if she were being watched but, when she turned around, Kumi seemed to be looking elsewhere. She noticed Sarina had stopped walking. The older girl was pointing at a large figure moving in and out of one of the cabins. It took her a few seconds to realized he seemed to be pulling what seemed like human bodies, out of a cabin. Paralyzed by fear, she would’ve probably come crashing down had Kumi not hurried to hold her up.

“Let’s wait and see if there’s anyone else” Kumi instructed and the other two nodded, crouching down behind a tree and two shrubs for cover.  


The man seemed to be putting the bodies in a specific formation around the campfire. She counted seven bodies in total. As he pulled one by it’s leg, it got stuck on the cabin door. He pulled harder, and managed to set him loose but not before partially detaching the leg from the rest of the body, leaving behind a trail of blood.

Mirei felt an unpleasant sour taste shoot out of her throat and into her mouth, she tried to swallow it but it just kept coming back up. Covering her mouth with her hands, she staggered into the woods, trying to be as silent as possible. Sarina crawled to her side and rubbed her back as she threw up. When she was finally done, she took off one of her tennis shoes and pulled out a soggy sock a nd used it to wipe her hands and her mouth. It might’ve seemed gross but she figured it’d be grosser to remain with puke stained hands or clean herself up with a piece of clothing she’d most likely be wearing for the rest of the night. She debated on whether to leave the sock or not and in the end, she hid it under a pile of leaves before joining the others.

“He’s going that way, let’s get moving” Kumi pointed and so they continued walking, careful to not step on broken branches.

As soon as the man was out of sight, Kumi beckoned to follow her and she snuck into the camp, hiding behind one of the cabins’ shadows. Kumi and Miipan helped the other girl up so she could look through a window.  Sarina shook her head, indicating no one was inside (at least not alive). They did the same with the next two cabins, trying to make as little noise as possible lest the detective were to find them.  In case of an emergency, Kumi had a baseball bat in hand but that wouldn't be enough to deal with several people or a single person charging directly at them. Because of it, they had to remain alert and vigilant. Sarina pointed at the cabin where the female managers were staying and they snuck inside, leaving the door open to not raise suspicions from afar. 

“Is anyone here?” Mirei whispered. “It’s W-Sasaki and Ushio” 

No reply. 

Mirei was on her way out when the floorboards creaked. Kumi lifted the bat over her head before motioning to Mirei to speak out again.

“Anyone?”

No reply again. Sarina and Kumi shrugged and hurried out while Mirei stayed for a few seconds longer scoping out the room. Before she set foot outside the door, a hand touched her shoulder. Mirei jolted back to see one of their managers, she was dragging one of her legs that was leaving behind a bloody trail, her clothes were dirty and filled with blood and one of her eyes was swollen shut. She put her hand over her mouth and pulled Mirei to a side so she wouldn't be seen from the outside.

“Sasaki, you need to get out of here, it’s not safe!”

“What happened?” Mirei whispered.

“There’s no time to explain! take this and trust no one” she handed her a small revolver about the size of her hand. “hide it under your clothes”

“Wait, why didn't you reveal yourself earlier?”

“Just be careful, don’t tell anyone you have seen me, not even the other two” she pushed Mirei out of the door “Now go! before they notice you’re gone”

Mirei stumbled out feeling the cold metal of the revolver tickle her waistline. She joined the other two who were already peeking inside another cabin.

“What took you so long?”

“I thought I heard something, but I think it was just the rain” Mirei lied. 

“Don't go anywhere by yourself, Miipan, it’s dangerous” Sarina scolded her. “I don’t think there’s anyone here either” 

“Guys, I don’t think there’s anyone anywhere. We should go back or we won’t make it back on time” Mirei warned them.

Kumi nodded. “If there  _ is  _ anyone alive, hopefully they’ll hide well” 

“But how are we gonna leave when that guy’s so close to the main path” Sarina pointed at the detective who was at the opposite edge of the campsite, dismembering one of the corpses.

“Maybe we should create a diversion” Sarina proposed.

“I have an idea” Kumi said, “You said this cabin is empty, right, Naccho?”

Sarina nodded. “It’s a tool shed but yeah, it seems to be”

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. Miipan, you’re gonna go inside and take out anything we can take back, distribute it amongst our bags; Naccho, you’re the fastest out of the three of us, you’re gonna keep watch, make sure he doesn’t spot us.”

Kumi went back to one of the cabins and brought out a pillowcase and tied it around a shovel she found in the shed. 

“I’m gonna light this up and then leave it in the storage shed, we’ll use the time before it’s noticeable to move closer to the entrance, once he realizes its burning and goes to check it out, we run” Kumi explained. “but to prevent any of us from getting lost, we’re gonna run in the same formation we came in, Miipan and I keeping an eye on Naccho while also on each other”

The plan seemed a bit complicated, nevertheless Mirei nodded, it wasn't as if she could come up with anything better. She decided not to point out the plan's fatal flaw: it was centered on the premise that there was only one bad guy, if anyone were to be lurking in the woods, then…

...she didn’t want to think about it.

She hurried up to the shed and took out whatever was small enough to carry but could be of some use. 

_ Are garden shears too dangerous? yeah, let’s not risk it. _

In the end, she just took out two aluminum baseball bats and put one on Sarina’s backpack and one on Kumi’s. Both of them were dramatically faster than Mirei so slowing them down a bit would probably improve  _ her  _ chances of survival. She looked out at the fire, the embers hypnotized her with their fluid movements, it was almost as if it were pulling her in… she snapped herself to snap out of it and hurried out of the shed.

Sarina looked around from the shadows while Kumi made her way to the center of the camping site through the cabins, barely visible unless you knew where to look. Overlooking a torn leg below her, she carefully placed down the shovel and watched as the pillowcase tied around it began to burn. Except it was burning faster than expected, and she was forced to run back before the fire went out. They placed several bed sheets balled up inside the tool shed. She made it to where Mirei was and threw the burning shovel into the shed where the sheets quickly caught fire. Kumi signaled Sarina and they hurried to the cover of the trees to sneak a bit closer to the entrance, leaving the door open so oxygen would keep on coming in.

Mirei’s backpack felt heavy. She didn’t remember putting anything in it aside from a gardening fork and a small rake, but here was no time to take a look so she just kept walking. 

Slowly, black smoke started coming out of the shed. At first it was only a small amount but as they got further, it got thicker and finally, even from afar, they could see a column of smoke rising a few meters into the air.  Laying on the ground, they watched the man’s movements and just as the others had claimed, it was the detective. His clothes and skin were splattered with blood but there was no doubt it was him. She tried her best to avert her eyes from the dismembered corpses of the policemen and two of their managers, telling herself it was fake (even if she knew it wasn’t) but that didn’t stop her from feeling light headed.

“Look” Sarina whispered. The detective had finally taken notice of their diversion. Unsurprising, considering it had become almost impossible to miss with the flames pouring out of the small building, emitting a bright light. He took the bait and dropped what he was doing and went to check out what was going on. The cue to run was as soon as he crossed the bonfire so they started getting on their feet as he drew father from them and finally, he crossed the invisible line and Kumi whispered: “now”

Mirei ran with all her might, not caring about making noise or even how fast she was going, she was just concentrated on three things: not stopping, not falling and the people around her. As she had originally expected, Sarina initially had a significant head start but after a minute or so, she started slowing down and they managed to catch up to her. Finally, after a bit over 5 minutes of running, they started seeing light again. They hurried out of the woods and into the outdoor field where they stopped to catch their breath.

“I can’t believe that worked, how much time do we have left?” Sarina panted.

“Around 15 minutes, if we hurry up, we’ll still make it,” Kumi smiled. “wow that went rather smoothly”

“Right?” Mirei grinned until the adrenaline rush finally started to wash out and her left shoulder began to ache. She bent down and opened her backpack to find a large Y shaped object she had no memory of putting inside. 

Reaching her hand in, she pulled out a rusted pair of garden shears. It had no glimmer whatsoever but the weight of it felt weirdly natural in her hands. A strange numbness encompassed her, her head completely clear of thought. Sarina’s and Kumi’s muffled voices were caught by her ears but she her brain couldn't process what the words coming out of their mouths meant. Her hands were moving on their own. Although she wasn't in control, she felt a certain peace. Maybe it was because she was so tired but she couldn't help but give in to the feeling slowly encompassing her.

The shears, they were calling her.

She opened them and placed them around her neck. She didn't realize what she had done until she fell to the ground but saw her feet were still in front of her. She watched her own body collapse and then everything turned black.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HORRIBLE! I KNOW! The main reason why I hadn't updated was actually because I was reluctant to post this chapter, not because Miipan is necessarily a fan favorite (though she should be) but because her death might have seemed unnecessary. 
> 
> I actually abandoned this chapter and wrote an alternative one and a follow up to that one but it didn't feel right for some reason. 
> 
> I guess kyoko will center azatokawaii now since both nao and katoshi seemed to hate centering and miku is d e a d.
> 
> \--Shrink


	17. Chapter 16: Dirty Conscience, Pure Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nao copes with the news that the person she killed might've been innocent after all while the group is thrown into chaos over the loss of their (other) center.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to make a proper chapter summary this time around lmao, I hope this episode feels a bit more light-hearted than the previous one.

Nao sat on the couch drinking a glass of water as she watched her seniors fight over their next step. By her seniors, she meant Kyoko and Kumi. While Nao hadn’t been paying enough attention to understand the context, it didn’t take a genius to tell something had definitely gone south with Kumi’s search party.  She couldn’t quite put her finger on what gave it away. Maybe it was Mirei’s absence, Sarina’s blood splattered clothes or the revolver in Kumi’s hand. What she knew for sure was that she was never gonna see Mirei again and while everyone else sobbed their eyes out, Nao couldn’t force out a single tear. Her eyes just stared emptily at the people in front of her that, somehow, still had a fighting will.

The argument of self-defense is quite funny because it relies exclusively on instinct. You can have no context on why the other person is attacking you, but if you feel threatened enough, you can justify just about anything under the guise of “self defense”. Now the others were claiming that the nurse she killed wasn’t actually evil but possessed by an evil spirit and Mei, who has somehow become all-knowing during her time on her own, has confirmed it.

_ I killed an innocent person. _

The moment it hit her, she couldn't help but giggle.

_ I’m a murderer. _

Hinano, who sat next to her, had been holding her hand for the past 15 minutes, their hands were already slippery with sweat but she felt too numb to bother pulling away. Absolutely nothing made sense anymore and just thinking about it made her want to burst into laughter. It was all just so absurd.

“We need to  _ get out, _ ” Kyoko yelled. “What part of: if we stay here, we die, don’t you understand?”

“We need to listen to Meimei’s story before deciding what to do, Kyoko'' Ayaka intervened. “We can’t do anything if we don’t even understand what’s going on!”

“I don’t need to be told what to do by the person who left a literal child to die in the middle of nowhere! and I don’t need to understand the situation to know we need to get the fuck out of this cursed island!”

_ I guess one could say I also allowed Mikuni to die… _

_...but in a way, I also avenged her. Maybe Kyoko-san thinks better of me now, she’d always call me spineless behind my back. _

“Enough!” Katoshi stood up. “Let’s put it to a vote! All in favor of listening to Higashimura’s story before deciding what to do…”

Ayaka, Kumi, Nibu, Miho, Suzuka, Sarina and Hinano next to her raised their hand.

“Those in favor of, and I quote: getting the fuck out”

Kyoko, Hina and Manafi raised their hand. Nao considered raising her hand but she realized she didn’t really care either way.

“Okay, Captain wins. Kyoko  _ sit down _ !”

Kyoko rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. Mei stood up and giggled awkwardly as soon as she realized all eyes were on her. Ayaka slapped her across the head.

“Ow!  _ evil bitch _ ” 

“We’re waiting,” Kyoko called out from the kitchen.

“okay… first of all, I want to apologize for disappearing. So much happened, as you can see” she pointed at her swollen lip. “after we got separated, I was rescued by a person who wishes their identity remains anonymous”

She glared at the group that had been with her and probably knew who the person was.

“This person, they grew up on the island and explained that what is happening right now isn’t a first time occurrence. This island was bought at the end of the second world war by a rich german businessman who had sponsored Hitler’s initial campaign. After the war, the Japanese government helped him and his family erase their identities and hide away here. They built most of the villa except for the pool area. The place that is now the indoor court was originally a storage closet where they kept their... he he he”

“don’t laugh” Ayaka hit her again. “cut to the point”

“Okay, turns out, and I have no proof of this, that the second daughter had an interest in black magic since her early childhood. A few weeks after they moved into the island, one of the villagers went missing and then he was found but —”

“I can vouch for that,” Manafi interrupted her. “that means the journal belonged to the girl”

_ Interesting _

“Anyway so, like, at some point, the father found out but instead of punishing her, he took an interest in this and convinced her to perform a ritual that would give them eternal life. Of course, this required a lot of human lives, so people started disappearing a lot more often and of course, the villagers caught on and tried to stop them. The cabin that is closed down used to be his office. Unable to finish the rite, the family committed mass suicide but what the people of the island didn’t know was that she had sealed their souls away in the journal…”

“so it  _ is _ the journal’s doing?” Nibu exclaimed.

_ Miku… what was it you tried to warn us about? _

“Apparently, when the book is opened, it unleashes the souls of the family that possess people of the island and they try to complete the ceremony again which will also permanently bind their soul to the body of the person they possessed”

“I’m more surprised you were able to remember all that” Ayaka mumbled to herself.

“You said this isn’t the first time it happens, does that mean they were able to stop them in the past?”

“Yeah, apparently this happened a few years after the initial incident. They weren’t able to stop them though, they just created a sort of blessed chamber within the cabin  — not literally, by the way — so their souls wouldn’t be freed unless someone removed the book”

“which is exactly what we did” Hina slapped her forehead

“so all we need to do is return the book to the cabin?” Kyoko said impatiently.

Mei laughed nervously. “you see, I… well...”

“not quite,” Hinano interrupted. “allow me, Meimei-senpai, I remember this part well”

Mei handed Hinano the invisible microphone. “all yours”

“When it happened, there were several attempts to destroy the journal but it seems like it can’t be destroyed but not for the reason you all think. What Meimei-san was trying to explain is that, to seal the souls in the book again, the five souls and the journal need to be within the cabin”

“but how do we find these souls?”

“the second they’re unleashed, they inhabit a host chosen at random and while it’s possible to purge them from the bodies, they will just move to another one.”

“Wait...does this mean there’s a chance one of us is—”

“You are very smart, Kyoko-senpai. Indeed, every single individual on the island can serve as a host for these evil spirits. This includes, as you stated, one of us”

“Holy shit” Katoshi blurted out. They all had their own theories and speculations, but hearing someone say it so matter-of-factly made it all the more real to Nao and it seemed like it had a similar effect on everyone else.

“But how will we know?” “we’re all gonna die!” “does this mean one of us killed Miku?” “there’s no way…”

“Hinano, or anyone else who was there, did this person ever mention what happens when the host dies?”

“I guess they just move on to someone’s body,” Ayaka thought out loud.

“Guys…” Suzuka mumbled.

“Does that mean there’s no way of stopping them?”  “We’re all gonna die!”  “Shut up, Marii!”

“Guys!” Suzuka repeated, this time a bit louder but the room was so loud no one heard her except for Nao and a few others.

“There’s no way this is real”  “How do we know this person wasn’t lying to them and  _ they  _ aren’t the one killing us off?”

“ _ GUYS _ !”

The entire cabin went silent and Suzuka’s cheeks turned red. “I think I know a way… well, not me but Miho.”

“but…”

“You can tell them, it's alright.”

Miho, who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the whole ordeal finally spoke out. “When Tomita, Kono and I were alone in the cabin, there was a small incident. By incident, I mean— Suzuka was possessed. I saw it first hand”

“That’s a serious accusation, Miho” Kumi frowned.

“I know, but it’s true. She tried to kill Konoka and I! but it’s fine now! I accidentally ended up exorcising her, I think... It was quite simple really, but to be fair, the soul within Suzuka didn’t seem to be a very serious one. They admitted defeat almost too quickly… as if they wanted me to tell you guys”

“That makes no sense, why would they want you to tell us?”

“I have no idea…”

“and what proof do you have that she’s not still possessed? she could just be acting. I don’t want to mistrust Tomita but let’s be real, someone  _ had  _ to kill Miku” 

“I can confirm it wasn’t her, Kyoko-san?” Hinano raised her hand.

Kyoko lifted an eyebrow. “how so?”

“When her and I went to pick up Matsuda-san’s clothes, I saw Suzuka-senpai on the floor… After that, she started acting weird so I suspect that was the  _ exact  _ moment she got possessed” 

“That makes sense,” Suzuka nodded. “when I came to, I thought I was still in Konoka’s cabin”

“okay so let’s just say  _ hypothetically _ ... and I mean, hypothetically, this whole possession thing is real,” Manafi began. “we can assume the man Suzuka and Konoka found was killed by one of the hotel staff, considering he seems to have been chopped up in Sarina’s cabin although we have no proof of it because by some act of fate, none of you went back in after Suzuka and Marii’s account. We know one of them is in the detective”

“There’s also the hotel staff that tried to kill us at the lobby, in hindsight, he was probably the one who killed the hotel staff” Haruyo pointed out. “then there’s the nurse that… did  _ that  _ to Takahashi”

“but if the nurse is dead...”

“The spirit probably jumped to Suzu-chan. The timing fits” Ayaka proposed. “that means there’s the detective, the hotel staff, the two we haven’t met yet and the one who keeps jumping around hosts”

“but the detective wasn’t here when they were initially released, that means someone somewhere in the island is dead too and we haven’t even noticed”

“You’re right, that doesn’t make any sense”

“Somehow, I’m much more confused after the explanation than before it,” Katoshi groaned. “what will we do now?”

Kyoko stood up. “I say we get the fuck out!”

“As much as I also want to get the swear-word out of here and let’s be real, it should be our only course of action… with this storm, any boat we manage to steal won’t make it very far, especially because —and I can’t believe you of all people haven’t pointed it out yet—  _ none of us _ know how to steer a boat” Kumi scratched her head.

“Yeah, maybe two or three more of us will die tonight but it's better than all of us drowning” 

“You sure are an optimist, Ayaka” Mei scoffed.

“No, Takamoto’s right. We need to be rational. We can’t act on impulse”

“Kumi-san, if I may. How about we discuss all the possible scenarios together? voicing them out will help us find its flaws and thus, define the safest course of action” Miho suggested.

“Go ahead”

“Okay, Suzuka write this down. Right now, we have four alternatives: number one, do nothing, wait for help, hope we don’t die; number two, steal boats and attempt to escape; number three, find a way to get help; number four, exorcism”

“Hypothetically speaking, how would we get help? phone lines are cut, there’s no internet, no signal, not even electricity”

“Radio, perhaps?” Hinano rubbed her chin. “isn’t there some sort of signal tower in the island?”

“What about the boats? boats have radios, right?” 

“Hina, you’re a genius!” Manafi cried out. “...oh wait, but how would we gain access to the boats, we don’t know where the keys are  _ or  _ where they’re being stored”

“They’re probably in the main building, but I don’t really feel like going back there”

“okay” Miho bit her lip. “What other options do we have? the second and third gens can also pitch in”

“I kinda wanna perform the exorcism,” Hinano giggled.

“Let’s leave that as a plan B, okay?”

Nao’s couldn’t understand how these girls had so much fighting spirit in them after everything that was happening. They were still trying so hard to move forward and survive. Why was Nao the only one who had given up hope?

_ Nao, don't be stupid.  
_

_ It’s not that they’re blindly optimistic. They WANT to believe they’re getting out of here. That’s why they’re still trying their best. _

For the first time in the past few hours, Nao was able to crack a smile.

_ In a way, that’s very Hinatazaka... _


End file.
